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Sarah "Sadie" Farley Allan (1878-1923)
Designer, Commercial Artist

Photo Sarah L Farley c1897
Photo of Sarah Farley, circa late 1890s, 18-20 years old. Given Sarah’s interest in the performing arts, it’s possible this photo was taken during a theatrical performance.
Sarah Leona Farley Allan Portrait 1905
Throughout her life, Sarah was called "Sadie" by her family and friends. Early in her life, she often signed her correspondence "Sadie Farley."
Before she got married, she usually signed her artwork "Sarah L. Farley." After she got married, she signed "Sarah Farley Allan" or "Farley-Allan."

Click images to enlarge

Sarah Leona Farley's Studio, Photo Scranton Board of Trade Journal May 1905

Biography of Sarah Leona (Farley) Allan (1878-1923)



Art Students League, West 57th St., N.Y. City, where Sarah Farley was an art student from 1897 to 1901.

The Art Students League was formed in 1875 by students and for students - the result of a student rebellion, mostly women, at New York’s National Academy of Design, who wanted less formality, more variety and flexible schedules. Sarah Farley was taught by the “studio method,” with an emphasis on collaborative group projects and minimal instructor lectures. Students controlled their time and managed their learning. There were no required courses, degree programs or grades. Students chose their entire curriculum. Most classes were conducted in 2-3 hour blocks.

Sarah was trained by some of the top illustrators and painters in the country, including: Kenyon Cox, Louis Loeb, Albert Edward Sterner, Julia A. Reed and John Henry Twachtman. Many prominent artists, including, Winslow Homer, Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell, Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock and Georgia O'Keeffe, were trained at the Art Students League.

Kenyon Cox (1856-1919)

Pencil portrait of Kenyon Cox. Undated. Signed. Possibly a self-portrait.

It was reported that Farley’s mentor, Kenyon Cox, traveled to Jermyn, PA, to work with her, affirming his high regard for her potential as a young artist. Farms and woods around Jermyn offered attractive settings for Cox to instruct Farley in advanced styles of landscape painting, including Tonalism. In 1909, Cox painted a 9 x 15-foot mural, entitled, "The Judicial Virtues," behind the judge’s bench in Courtroom Four of the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.


On April 29, 1903, sixty orchestra members from the Metropolitan Grand Opera House in New York City performed at Scranton’s Watres Armory. Scranton artists, Sarah Leona Farley and P. W. Costello, were hired to illustrate the cover and business ads that were included in the 34-page program.


Left: Art Services Ad, Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

When Sarah Farley set up her art studio in downtown Scranton in 1902, she was 24 years old and a recent graduate of the Art Students League in New York City. In this ad for her own business, she highlighted the name of her art school, four of her art teachers, all nationally renowned, and the art services that she offered, including, illustrated advertising and book cover designing. For the opera patron, she identified seven other business ads that she illustrated in the program. She added her studio address and signed her last name at the top. To demonstrate her illustration skills, she “bookended” the ad with a portrait of a horse and a self-portrait of her playing the violin.The drawings are described below.


Right: Art Services Ad - Playing Violin (Self-Portrait), Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

Farley played the violin from an early age into adulthood. She performed in concerts in Scranton and, later, at her Congregational Church in West Lebanon, NH.

This pencil, charcoal and watercolor drawing is a rare self-portrait of the artist.

Left: Art Services Ad - Horse Portrait, Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

Horses were one of Sarah Farley’s favorite art subjects, going back to her high school years in Warwick, NY. In Oct. 1900, when Sarah was an art student in New York City, she ran an ad in the Warwick Valley Dispatch for “black & white drawings from life” in varying sizes for “horsemen and lovers of horses.”  

This horse portrait, drawn two years later, is similar in style and color. It was drawn with pencil and charcoal. She added light gray watercolor to the horse’s mane, its reins and to the background.


Right: Cherub and foliage, from A. D. Van Gorder Ad, Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

Entitled, “Captivated,” Farley’s illustration of a winged cherub, who is holding a bow and arrow and admiring a photograph, is the centerpiece of an ad for a frame shop that also processed photos.  She added flowers, leaves and stems at bottom.


Brooks & Sanderson Shoe Co. Ad,  S. Leona Farley, 1903

Farley illustrated this monogram for the Brooks and Sanderson Shoe Co. using perspective and shading to give an angled look to both letters.

Left: Richmond Shoes Ad,  Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

Here Farley used a clever design (a 12-member marching band) to spell out the 8-letter name of the RICHMOND Men’s Shoe Store in Scranton.  The ad is an impressive demonstration of Farley’s cartooning and caricature skills, learned at the Art Students League in New York City. 
Woelkers & Beilman Ad,  Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

Farley’s detailed illustration of a mansion is the centerpiece of an ad for a Scranton contractor and builder.  She also hand-lettered and decorated the text of the ad.  She used a pen and black ink to draw the house and trees, and groupings of parallel lines to shade and give shape to objects. 

E. Schmpff Jewelers Ad,  Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

In an attractive ad for the E. Schmpff Jewelry Store, Farley drew necklaces, pendants, broaches, stick pins, rings and ribbons.



Mrs. Sara Allyn Ad, drawing of man and woman,  Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

Mrs. Sara Allyn was a hair stylist, manicurist and podiatrist in the Mears Building in downtown Scranton.  In this ad, Farley portrayed Mrs. Allyn giving a male patron a manicure. The lines and style of both drawings show the infuence of illustrator, Charles Dana Gibson.

Guernsey Hall, Musical Instruments Ad,  Sarah Leona Farley, 1903

Farley beautifully illustrated this ad for Guernsey Hall, a large retail store on N. Washington Ave. that sold a variety of string and wind instruments.  She drew a piano, at center, a horn, bottom left, followed by a lute, a violin and guitar in the other corners.  In the background she penned an elaborate design of acanthus leaves, flowers, winding stems and other foliage. In art school, Farley would have studied the work of William Morris (1834-1896), famous British textile designer who was part of the Arts and Crafts Movement in England. This piece shows his influence.



Cartoon, The Scranton Times, January 13, 1904, pg. 1

Sarah Farley’s cartoon, entitled, “Soon to be a Thing of the Past,” is followed by a reassuring message from Supt. Reilly, the head of Scranton Transit: “The service hasn’t been good, but we’re going to improve it.”

On January 13, 1904, this cartoon was published in The Scranton Times at the top of the front page. Using humor, hyperbole, a packed street car and the voices of angry commuters, Farley told the story of the inadequacy of the city’s transit service.

A man with long, shaggy hair and beard, sitting (at left) on the top of the street car, laments, “Great Scott! And I had a shave and a haircut before I left home!” Next to him, a father, with his school-age daughter sitting on his lap, ‘one-ups’ his neighbor, “Never mind old man! Why, this child was an infant in arms when we started for home!” At the other end of the car, the conductor is hanging off the roof trying to collect fares from the crowd below. “Fares please!”




Sarah Farley’s pen illustration of Roman goddess, Abundantia (1905).

Sarah Farley’s detailed pen drawing of the Roman goddess of abundance and prosperity graced the covers of all twelve Scranton Board of Trade Journal issues in 1905.

Seated on a throne, she holds a large, open volume on Trade and Commerce. At her feet is a cornucopia overflowing with gold coins, and a platform with “THE ELECTRIC CITY” in block letters across the front. In the background, Farley drew an Anthracite coal breaker; a steel mill; a steam locomotive and passenger car – all representing the city’s industrial and commercial progress.

Left: Sarah L Farley portrait William W. Scranton. Scranton Gas & Water Co. (c1906)

It was done with heavy and light pencil. It shows quick strokes, so it was probably done in an hour or less.

She was a good portrait artist. She may have met Scranton through the Board of Trade. He was a cousin of the city's founders. His father owned the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Co., which he inherited.



Right: Grant L. Bell Book Plate  (c. 1905)

Sarah L. Farley Colonial-themed Grant L. Bell Book Plate (c. 1905)

Left: Farley-Allan Cover, Scranton Board of Trade Journal  – April 1906

Sarah Farley lettered and illustrated this April 1906 cover of the Scranton Board of Trade Journal.  Her unique design includes a scene of downtown Scranton with buildings, a trolley car, horse-drawn coach, and steel mill in the background; an orchid at center, an Easter symbol; and two potted plants, symbols of growth and vitality.  She colored the cover in earth tones (light orange and umber) giving it a warm, traditional look.



Right: Farley-Allan drawing – A Boy and His Dog, Fourth of July Fireworks, undated. Image courtesy of the Lackawanna Historical Society.








Tribute to Veterans (c. post-1907)

Farley-Allan Tribute to Veterans illustration (c. post-1907). In the drawing,  uniformed veterans of the Civil and Spanish-American War are standing in front of a female figure, surrounded by feathers, wearing laurel leaves in her hair and holding a laurel wreath and sword in her outstretched arms.




Above: Dragon illustration (1912)

Farley-Allan illustration of a dragon, used as a page divider in the book, Good Old Wales: A Patriotic Love Story by Thomas Owen Charles (1912).


Continued on Next Page
To Illustrations for the New England Society of Northeast PA

To Poli Theater Illustrations
Biography of Sarah Leona (Farley) Allan (1878-1923)

Images and information contributed by: Thomas W. Costello, May 2019 to December 2020
Tom can be reached at this e-mail address:

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