J. Allen St. John

James Allen St. John (October 1, 1872 – May 23, 1957) was an American author, artist and illustrator. He is especially remembered for his illustrations for the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, although he illustrated works of many types. He taught at the Chicago Art Institute and with the American Academy of Art. He is considered by many to be 'The Godfather of Modern Fantasy Art'. His most famous disciples were Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta, the latter of whom has also been styled as the grandmaster of the Genre.

St. John was born in Chicago. His grandfather Hilliard Hely had graduated from Trinity College Dublin and was a portrait painter; his mother Susan Hely studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the National Academy of Design in New York, before opening a portrait studio.

St. John's artistic career began in 1898. He studied at the Art Students League of New York. The league included William Merritt Chase, F.V. Du Mond, George de Forest Brush, H. Siddons Mowbray, Carol Beckwith and Kenyan Cox. This was followed by his first commercial relationship with the ''New York Herald''. During this period he spent time in Paris from 1906 to 1908 at the Académie Julian, then moved to Chicago around 1912 and would eventually live at Tree Studios art colony until his death. By this time, He had already produced his best-known work for this publisher back in 1905, ''The Face in the Pool'', which he had both written and illustrated.

While in Chicago he became close friends with artist Louis Grell. Here he began his work with the publisher A.C. McClurg & Co., where he was contracted to illustrate Burrough’s ''The Beasts of Tarzan'' in 1916.

During WWI he created military recruitment posters and Liberty Bonds.

His work was also published in Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures magazines. Provided by Wikipedia