Joseph Robert Lemen (1890-1955) was born in St. Louis, went to art school at Washington University, married in 1912, joined the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as an artist a couple years later and remained with the paper until sometime in the 1920s when he took off for California.
In the 1930 Census, his wife, Constance Andrews Lemen, and their two children are living on Orchard Avenue in Webster Groves. Constance is listed as widowed, and three years later she remarried. She died in 1970.
Lemen, who was not dead, signed a draft registration card in 1942, giving his address as 4013 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. He’s buried at Bellefontaine in St. Louis. (There’s more about him at Stripper’s Guide.)
Here are examples of his work (with some added color):
(Originally published April 5, 2020)
Roland Klose 