Alice Chittenden (1859-1944)

To contact us about the early California painter, Alice Brown Chittenden: http://california-art.com/page.cfm?pageid=5021&artistid=132 Born in Brockport, NY on Oct. 14, 1859, Alice Chittenden came to San Francisco as a child.  Her father, a prosperous miner, encouraged her art studies.  Beginning a long affiliation with the School of Design, she studied there in 1877 under Virgil Williams and then taught at that school for 43 years.  Her marriage to Charles Overton in 1886 was short-lived, and after their divorce she never remarried.  Over the years she made several trips to New York, France, and Italy to exhibit and study. Chittenden was active as a teacher and painter in San Francisco until her death there on Oct. 13, 1944.  A prolific painter, she painted 350 varieties of California’s wildflowers, a few portraits, and many landscapes.  Member: SFAA; SF Women Artists; Sketch Club (SF).  Exh: School of Design, 1879 (silver medal); SFAA from 1879; Expo. of Art and Industries (SF), 1891 (gold medal), 1893 (silver medal); Calif. State Fair, 1891 (silver medal); World’s Columbian Expo (Chicago), 1893 (silver medal); Calif. Midwinter Int'l Expo, 1894; Mark Hopkins Art Inst., 1898, 1906; Bohemian Club, 1898; Lewis & Clark Expo (Portland), 1905 (silver medal); Société des Artistes Français (Paris), 1908 (award); Schussler Gallery (SF), 1908 (solo); Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909 (award); Del Monte Art Gallery, 1909-12; Golden Gate Park Museum, 1916 (solo); Stanford Art Gallery, 1918, 1922 (solos); SFMA, 1935; GGIE, 1939.  In: Oakland Museum; San Jose and San Mateo County Historical Museums; Episcopal Divinity School (SF); Society of Calif. Pioneers (six portraits); Boalt Law Hall (UC Berkeley); Academy of Sciences (Golden Gate Park); Shasta State Historical Museum; State Museum Resource Center (Sacramento); CHS.

Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940" California State Library (Sacramento); California Historical Society; American Art Annual 1919-33;Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Fielding, Mantle); Who's Who in American Art1936-41; Club Magazine, Aug. 1941; Women Artists of the American West; SF Examiner, 10-15-1944 (obituary).

Alice Chittenden (1859-1944) California Poppies, dated 1897 O/B, 8" x 12"    *Private Collection

Alice B Chittenden (1859-1944) California Beach Dunes O/B, 11" x 14"   *Private Collection

A. B. Chittenden (1859-1944) Roses O/B, 12" x 16", signed    *Private Collection*

Alice B. Chittenden, O/C, 12" x 16", California Dunes              Private Collection