R. Allen Jensen, artist
THE STORY; of R. Allen Jensen’s artwork in the 2024 Auction….
Franz Reichelt, born 1878. Reichelt had become fixated on developing a suit for aviators that would convert into a parachute and allow them to survive a fall should they be forced to leave their aircraft in mid-air. Although he created and experimented with multiple prototypes of wings and parachute suits over the years, they were by and large failures, to the point that it was a point of contention between newspapers after his death whether or not any of his designs were ever functional.
Believing that a suitably high test platform would prove his invention’s efficacy, Reichelt repeatedly petitioned the Paris Police for permission to conduct a test from the Eiffel Tower. He finally received permission in 1912, but when he arrived at the tower on 4 February he made it clear that he intended to jump personally rather than conduct an experiment with dummies. Despite attempts to dissuade him, he jumped from the first platform of the tower wearing his invention. The parachute failed to deploy and he plummeted 57 metres (187 ft) to his death. The next day, newspapers were full of illustrated stories about the death of the “reckless inventor”, and the jump was shown in newsreels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt
R. Allen Jensen (1935 – 2022) an American visual artist, sculptor, performance artist, installation artist, lecturer and educator; having taught at Western Washington University for 30 years. He won numerous awards for his work including a Ford Foundation Purchase Award in 1964. Jensen was best known for his mixed media assemblage sculptures and drawings that combines and demonstrates a powerful DaDa acceptance of all materials as media.
Jensen is renowned for his personal narrative on uncomfortable issues such as death and decay. Having lost his sight the last 3 years, he continued to create with zeal and unabashed passion, up to 5 works daily. Jensen had been a major player in the NW Art scene since 1959, when as a junior art major at the University of Washington, he was juried into the then prestigious Northwest Annual held at the Seattle Art Museum. Since then, Bob has been in numerous exhibitions and one- man shows at museums, including MONA, and the Whatcom Museum, with multiple gallery affiliations. Bob was active in Seattle’s 1 Percent for Art Program, advocated by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, winning 3 commissions. One of his well-known commissioned works, “Stroke,” still stands at Green Lake.
