Alice Chapman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alice Chapman
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| Born | 1860 Inglewood, Victoria, Australia
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| Died | 1929 St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia
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| Education | National Gallery of Victoria Art School, Melbourne |
| Known for | Painter, Portraitist |
| Awards | 2 Jury awards, Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, 1888 Gold medal for figure painting, Bendigo Exhibition, Bendigo Art Gallery, 1894 |
Alice Chapman (1860–1929) was an Australian artist. She was well-known for her beautiful portraits of people and her "genre paintings." These paintings showed ordinary people doing everyday things. She also painted still life pictures, which are artworks of objects like fruit or flowers.
Growing Up and Learning Art
Alice Chapman was born in 1860 in Inglewood, Victoria. This area was a busy gold field back then. Her father, Joel Chapman, was a miner. Alice was the first of four daughters. When she was a child, her family moved from the gold fields to Armadale, a suburb in Melbourne.
After finishing school, Alice began her art training. From 1876 to 1886, she studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. While there, she learned from a teacher named G. F. Folingsby. Alice was one of the female students who spoke up because they felt they were not treated the same as the male students. Because she stood up for herself, she was temporarily dismissed from the school. However, after people in the news and art world protested, she was allowed back.
During her time at art school, Alice met many artists who later became famous. Some of them were part of the Heidelberg school, a group known for Australian impressionism. She knew many of them through a club called the Buonarotti Club. One of her fellow students was Tom Roberts. In 1887, he painted a picture of Alice's younger sister, Ethel Chapman, who was 12 years old. The painting was called Blue eyes and Brown.
Alice Chapman's Art Career
After finishing her art training, Alice Chapman opened her own studio in Melbourne. She mostly focused on painting portraits and genre paintings. She often showed her artwork in public exhibitions and was very successful.
Here are some of the exhibitions where her work was shown:
- 1887: The Australian Art Association exhibition, where she showed a painting called There’s nothing new under the sun.
- 1888: The Melbourne Centennial Exhibition. She won awards for her paintings Sitting in State and Gretchen.
- 1888-1892: She regularly showed her art with the Victorian Artists Society.
One of her paintings, Wharves near Spencer Street from 1910, can be seen online at the State Library of Victoria. Although it was owned by Alice Chapman, some people now think it might have been painted by another artist.
Alice also painted a portrait of a famous singer named Philip Newbury. This painting was shown at an event for the Austral Salon. She exhibited her work alongside other well-known artists like Frederick McCubbin, Walter Withers, and Clara Southern.
In 1894, Alice Chapman received a special honor. She was made an Honorary Life Governor of the Bendigo Art Gallery. In the same year, she won the gallery's gold medal for a painting of Mr. J. F. Sullivan, who was the first mayor of Bendigo. She painted other mayors too, like H. M. Gooch, the mayor of Prahran. This portrait was hung in the Prahran Town Hall. People at the time called her "one of the most careful and skilled Australian-born painters."
Alice was a member of the Victorian Artists’ Society until 1908. She had shown her art there regularly until 1892.
In 1911, Alice's sister, Ethel Margaret, passed away. Ethel had two young children, Violet Evelyn and Charles William. Alice and her two unmarried sisters took on the responsibility of raising these children. Because of this, Alice had less time for her art for the next 14 years. She stopped taking new orders for portraits.
Later Life and Legacy
Alice Chapman passed away in 1929 at the age of 65. She was living in St. Kilda with her sisters, Elinor and Jessie, who had helped her raise her niece and nephew.
See also
- National Gallery of Victoria Shaw Research Library
- National Library of Australia, file:
- State Library of Victoria, papers,
