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Winifred Hall Allen was a first generation Jamaican immigrant photographer during the Great Depression and Harlem Renaissance. Her work explored the role of African American males and females within the professional and social realm. Her presence as a female African American artist assisted in the significance of her work.

Life
At age eighteen, Allen moved to New York City from the West Indies of Jamaica at age eighteen, where she attended the New York Institute of Photography. She completed her apprenticeship at the Woodward Studio in New York City. When Woodward relocated to Chicago, Allen became the new owner of the studio. She was married to Fred Allen for several years and trained him to often help with her photography work before they separated.

Career
Winifred Hall Allen’s work is primarily defined as portraiture, with a particular focus on the business and social activities of 1930s Harlem. Despite the ownership of her own studio, Allen often exited this space to document other African American female business owners. The subjects of Allen’s photographs were acquired from her place within the Harlem community, for “when she left the office, she would be going to parties where people wanted to make records of what was happening at their particular lives at the time.” Her body of work is comprised of both studio portraiture and documentary images of Harlem figures.

Allen did not choose to exhibit any of her work in galleries or shows. The only photos that have since been published were due to Jeanne Moutoussammy-Ashe, who visited Allen at her studio to conduct an interview. She found three boxes of Allen’s negatives in her closet and persuaded Allen to let her take some home with her. The rest of Allen’s work was destroyed by the photographer herself, for she thought of them to have no value.

Recognition
Most of the recognition that Allen has received has been by writers, who often discuss her work in accordance to other African American photographers of the 1930s. Most discussions of her work compare Allen’s photographs to other female African American photographers of her time. However, her location within the Harlem community has also commonly invoked a connection between her work and the work of acclaimed photographer James Van Der Zee.

Publications
Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers (New York & London: Writers and Readers Publishing, Inc., 1993)