Allen Tanner was born on September 29, 1898. Early in life he showed signs of significant talent at the piano, and at age fifteen he went to Chicago, where he made his first appearance with an orchestra, followed by several concert tours in the West. He then moved to New York, where he worked as a concert accompanist for various vocalists, including Marguerite D'Alvarez. His talent in demand, Tanner performed often in New York and throughout the East.
In December of 1922, Tanner went to Berlin to pursue his musical career in Europe. Almost immediately he met the artist Pavel Tchelitchew, who was working as a set designer for the Russian Romantic Theatre. The two became friends, and this friendship soon grew into a relationship that would last over a decade. In early summer of 1923, they left Berlin for Paris, where they lived with Tchelitchew's sister, Alexandra Zaoussaïloff, for several years. In Paris, Tchelitchew worked on his painting while Tanner took work as a piano instructor. Tchelitchew's work soon caught the interest of Gertrude Stein, and for a time the two men were a part of Stein's circle of literary and artistic friends, a group which also included René Crevel and Virgil Thomson, both represented in this collection.
In the autumn of 1934, Tchelitchew and Tanner moved to New York. By this time, Tchelitchew was involved with the poet Charles Henri Ford, and when Tanner and Tchelitchew visited Tanner's home town of Chicago for an exhibition of Tchelitchew's work, Tanner stayed when Tchelitchew returned to New York. In the following decades, Tanner continued his musical career, living in New York during the 1950's and 1960's, and later in Belleville, Illinois, where he died on October 3, 1987.
From the guide to the Allen Tanner papers, 1902-1986, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
