Allen Tupper True (1881–1955) was born in Colorado Springs and studied at the University of Denver, the Corcoran School of Art and Howard Pyle’s art school.

Through Pyle, he began work as a magazine illustrator. He later assisted muralist Frank Brangwyn at the Panama-Pacific Exposition and developed a major career as a mural painter. True created mural decorations for state capitol buildings in Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming, and for public buildings in Denver. He specialized in Western and Native American subjects. From 1934 to 1945, he advised the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on decoration and color schemes for Boulder, Grand Coulee and Shasta dams.