American, 1896 - 1982
Allyn Cox was the son of the painters Louise Howland King and Kenyon Cox. He received his first training working as his father's assistant in his mural work. From 1910 to 1915 he studied under Douglas Volk at the Academy school, and in 1915 with George Bridgman at the Art Students League. In 1916 he won the Prix de Rome from the American Academy in Rome which allowed him to live and study in Rome for two years. With America's entrance into World War I, Cox served in the American Red Cross in Italy, 1917-18.
Returning to New York after the war, Cox worked another year at the Art Students League before beginning his career in mural painting in earnes. Commissions came easily: ceiling paintings for the W. A. Clark Jr. Library, Los Angeles, California; panels for the National City Bank, 52 Wall Street, New York; for the Continental Bank, New York; for the American Legion Building, Paris; for the Assembly Room, Old Cosmopolitan Club, New York; for the Law School at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and for the estate of Robert W. Bliss, Washington, D.C. Among other work were stained glass windows for St. Bartholomew's Church, New York; and glass mosaics and inlaind stone maps for the United States Military Cemetery in Luxembourg. In the summers of 1940 and 1941 Cox taught at the Art Students League.
From 1951 through virtually the rest of his life Cox spent much of his time in Washington, D.C. engaged in the work for which he is most celebrated, carrying forward the decoration of the United States Capital. Much space on the Capital's walls was intentionally left blank in the later nineteenth century to leave room to represent America's future. As successor to Constantino Brumidi, Cox not only did much restoration work on Brumidi's frescoes, especially in the dome, but completed the rotonda frieze, and painted numerous murals in the corridors of the House of Representatives. He also executed murals for the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, a close-suburb of Washington.
Cox was very active professionally serving as president of the American Artists Professional League, president of the National Society of Mural Painters, vice president of the Fine Art Federation, vice president of the New York Architectural League, as a member of the board New York's Municiapl Art Society, and from 1952 to 1958 on the New York City Art Commission.
Returning to New York after the war, Cox worked another year at the Art Students League before beginning his career in mural painting in earnes. Commissions came easily: ceiling paintings for the W. A. Clark Jr. Library, Los Angeles, California; panels for the National City Bank, 52 Wall Street, New York; for the Continental Bank, New York; for the American Legion Building, Paris; for the Assembly Room, Old Cosmopolitan Club, New York; for the Law School at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and for the estate of Robert W. Bliss, Washington, D.C. Among other work were stained glass windows for St. Bartholomew's Church, New York; and glass mosaics and inlaind stone maps for the United States Military Cemetery in Luxembourg. In the summers of 1940 and 1941 Cox taught at the Art Students League.
From 1951 through virtually the rest of his life Cox spent much of his time in Washington, D.C. engaged in the work for which he is most celebrated, carrying forward the decoration of the United States Capital. Much space on the Capital's walls was intentionally left blank in the later nineteenth century to leave room to represent America's future. As successor to Constantino Brumidi, Cox not only did much restoration work on Brumidi's frescoes, especially in the dome, but completed the rotonda frieze, and painted numerous murals in the corridors of the House of Representatives. He also executed murals for the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia, a close-suburb of Washington.
Cox was very active professionally serving as president of the American Artists Professional League, president of the National Society of Mural Painters, vice president of the Fine Art Federation, vice president of the New York Architectural League, as a member of the board New York's Municiapl Art Society, and from 1952 to 1958 on the New York City Art Commission.
