At age six, Allen Polt's first grade teacher, so impressed with his natural talent, arranged the artist's first one-man show. Immediately, his gift was acknowledged and his life's purpose defined.
Polt went on to earn his Degree in Illustrating Arts from the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art. After graduating, he worked in New York City, drawing grease pencil sketches of featured VIPs for the Wall Street Journal. He continued his studies of drawing and painting under the direction of Frank Reilly of the Art Students League.
In 1974, Polt left Manhattan for a change of pace and found visual inspiration in the landscape of Taos, New Mexico - an art community inundated with landscapes. His masterful paintings have been featured in galleries across the Southwest, including Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Allen’s work has be featured in various museums including Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos Art Museum, and Albuquerque Art Museum, Amerind Museum. Allen is a Member of OPA-Oil Painters of America and Portrait Artists of America.
Albeit a diversity of subject matter, Polt's heart kept returning to portraiture; his ability to capture the essence of his subject's personality is appreciated through commissioned work throughout the world. He chose portraiture as his primary work because it is stimulating; Allen enjoys the risk of capturing the spirit and personality of a person and how it heightens his artistic awareness. Every portrait presents a new and interesting challenge.
Allen’s works are available for purchase at Nedra Matteucci Galleries, Santa Fe, NM where much of his Western and Native American Portraiture is represented.
In January 2019, Allen was challenged with a commission to create an abstract painting by a client. He quickly turned it down. Allen’s comment about modern art was that “it is an artistic license for fraud”. Nevertheless, after much discussion with his client, she convinced him to take on the challenge.
The challenge changed Allen’s views completely about Modern art. It is just as challenging as portraiture! The saving grace for Allen is that it offers the ability to let loose with the brush and enjoy the creative challenge that it offers without the criticism of ‘too many wrinkles in a client’s face’ when commissioned for portraits. A recent comment from another client-- “you have to be accomplished in the Classics in order to excel in Modern”.
Allen enjoys the opportunity and challenge to paint Modern and Portraiture. On any given day, it is a delight to visit his studio to see what his canvas is unfolding! Allen lives and works in his studio located in Oro Valley, Arizona

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