Alice Burr (1883–1968) was an American photographer associated with the

pictorialist Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

movement. She was San Francisco-based.

Early life and education

Alice Burr was born in 1883. Her grandfather was

Ephraim Willard Burr Ephraim Willard Burr (1809–1894) was an American businessman, banker, and politician. He served as the 8th mayor of San Francisco, California, from 1856 to 1859. Early life Burr was born on March 7, 1809, in Warren, Rhode Island. He was a P ...

, former mayor of San Francisco. She lived in the Burr family home, the Burr Mansion on 1772 Vallejo Street in Cow Hollow, San Francisco until her death. Her studio, an

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

-style structure built in 1916 solely for her use, was located on an adjacent property. In 1916, Burr studied at the Clarence Hudson White School of Photography in New York with White himself, whose 30-week course of study emphasized personal vision and style over any particular school or movement. Burr also attended the California School of Design (now San Francisco Art Institute), where she studied a range of studio arts, including painting, drawing, and printmaking, but it is not known whether she pursued this training prior to her course of study in New York. In the 1920s and 1930s, Burr, her youngest sister Marian, and two female cousins traveled extensively across Europe, Asia, African continents and to Australia and Japan together.

Work

Burr primarily made portraits and images of nature, and additionally captured scenes around San Francisco and during her many travels abroad. In her home studio, she experimented with the bromoil and autochrome processes.

Recognition

In her application to join the San Francisco Society of Women Artists (SFSWA; founded 1877), one of the oldest arts organizations in California, Burr noted that she had exhibited student work at the De Young Museum and at the San Diego Museum of Art. In 1927, Burr was elected president of the California League of Women Voters. Burr's accomplishments as a photographer were examined in the 1998 exhibition ''Alice Burr: A California Pictorialist Rediscovered'' held at the

Davison Art Center Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

, curated by Thomas Weston Fels with support from Jeanne Slate Overstreet and her late husband Alan Burr Overstreet, the artist's nephew. The exhibition, which traveled to the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery at University of Maryland (2001),

California Historical Society The California Historical Society (CHS) is the official historical society of California. It was founded in 1871, by a group of prominent Californian intellectuals at Santa Clara University. It was officially designated as the Californian state hi ...

(2005) and Santa Barbara Museum of Art (2006), was accompanied by a catalog.

Collections

Burr's work is held in the following permanent collections: * Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (four photographs) *

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

, San Francisco, California *

, San Francisco, California

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burr, Alice 1883 births 1968 deaths Artists from California Photographers from California American women photographers Pictorialists San Francisco Art Institute alumni Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park