Alice Kent Stoddard (1883–1976) was an American painter of portraits, landscapes, and seascapes. Many of her works, particularly portraits, are in public collections, including University of Pennsylvania's portrait collection, Woodmere Art Museum, and other museums. She lived and painted on Monhegan Island in Maine, an enclave of artists. During World War II, she worked as a combat artist and drafted designs for airplanes. She married late in life to Joseph Pearson, who had been a friend and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Personal life

Alice Kent Stoddard was born in Watertown, Connecticut in 1883. Her first cousin was artist Rockwell Kent. She rented and then bought her cousin's house known as Rockwell Kent Cottage and Studio in

Monhegan, Maine Monhegan () is an island in the Gulf of Maine located in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. A plantation, a minor civil division in the state of Maine falling between unincorporated area and a town, it is located about off the mainland. Th ...

. She was good friends with fellow artist

Joseph Thurman Pearson Jr. Joseph Thurman Pearson Jr. (February 6, 1876 – February 23, 1951) was an American landscape and portrait painter, and an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Life and career He was one of the eight children ...

, who taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Pearson's wife, Emily, died in 1947, and Stoddard married him in 1948. They lived at "Pearson's Corner," along the Pennypack Creek, in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Pearson died in 1951.

Education

Stoddard studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, after which she studied under

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...

, Thomas Anshutz and Cecilia Beaux at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). She won the Cresson Traveling Scholarship from PAFA.

Career

In 1911 and 1913, she was awarded the

Mary Smith Prize The Mary Smith Prize (defunct) was a prestigious art prize awarded to women artists by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It recognized the best work by a Philadelphia woman artist at PAFA's annual exhibition — one that showed "the mo ...

from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for ''Paper Dolls''. She was a member of

The Plastic Club The Plastic Club is an arts organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1897 for women only, the Plastic Club is one of the oldest art clubs in the United States. It is located on the 200 block of Camac Street, the "Little Street ...

. In 1938, she became an associate of the National Academy of Design. Stoddard painted portraits of Philadelphia socialites, often including pets in the paintings. She painted her mother and sister in ''Mother and Virginia in Sitting Room'' about 1934. Woodmere Art Museum states, "Here she masterfully conveys the intimacy of family life... Virginia pauses while knitting, seemingly lost in thought. Across the room, Stoddard's mother focuses on a game of solitaire. The large, rectangular space between the two women emphasizes the psychological distance between them in their respective moments of quiet contemplation. Stoddard visited and lived in Monhegan, Maine, and integrated the people and scenery in her paintings." She painted Manville Davis, a fisherman in ''Mending the Nets'' and a portrait of artist Andrew Winter. The area became an enclave for artists, some of the other artists who painted and visited there were Robert Henri, the Wyeth family ( N. C., Andrew, and

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), and

Charles Ebert Charles Joseph Ebert (April 30, 1885 - June 29, 1983) was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Biography Ebert was born on April 30, 1885 in Seymour, Wisconsin. He became a bank director, cheese maker and operator of a cold storage plant. P ...

. During World War II she worked as a mechanical draftsperson for airplane design for

Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products ...

and as a combat artist. Her work was exhibited at Woodmere Art Museum, where she also volunteered her time. Stoddard painted a mural in one of the courtrooms of the Family Court Building in Philadelphia. The mural featured a couple planting a tree and a family scene, within a construction area. It was one of 37 murals made in the building to depict the societal usefulness of the jurisprudence system. She won a "Small Oils Painting" medal at a Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Collections

* Alderney Library, Channel Islands ** ''Beatrice Fox Griffith of Haverford, West Pennsylvania'', 1949 * Dallas Museum of Art ** ''Fisherman's Little Sister'', 1915 * Ewell Sale Stewart Library, Academy of National Sciences, Philadelphia ** ''Charles M. B. Cadwalader'' *

Farnsworth Art Museum The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry Lan ...

, Rockland, Maine ** ''Artist Sketching'', 1953 ** '' Portrait of Andrew Winter'', 1953 * Franklin Institute Of Science, Philadelphia ** '' Benjamin Franklin'' * The Monhegan Museum ** ''Mending Nets'' ** '' Monhegan Island Harbor Looking Toward Manana,'' 1910 ** ''Portrait of Gerald Stanley,'' 1913 * National Academy of Design ** ''Self-Portrait'', ** ''Clarence Clark Zantzinger'', *

Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preser ...

, Portland ** ''Uncle John Stoughton'' * Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts ** ''Polly (Mrs. H. Lea Hudson)'' ** ''Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones'', before 1911 * Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, Pennsylvania ** ''Leila'' * Union League of Philadelphia ** ''Melville Griffith Baker (1875-1930)'', * University of Pennsylvania ** ''Francis Bernard Bracken (1869-1937)'', ** ''Eldridge L. Eliason'' ** ''Emma Barton Gates'' ** '' Thomas Sovereign Gates'', 1958 ** ''John Claxton Gittings'' ** ''Samuel Frederick Houston'' ** ''

Edwin R. Keedy Edwin Roulette Keedy (January 19, 1880 November 25, 1958) was Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1941 until 1945, as well as the law school's Algernon Sidney Biddle Professor of Law. Biography Keedy was born in Boonsboro, M ...

'' ** '' Clarence Erwin McClung'' (1870-) ** ''Clarence Ewing McClung'' (1870-1946) ** ''William L. Mclean'', ** ''

William Ephraim Mikell William Ephraim Mikell (January 29, 1868 January 19, 1944) was an American legal scholar, lawyer and dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Biography Mikell was born in Sumter, South Carolina, to Thomas Price and Rebecca (Moses) Mik ...

'' ** ''

Roy Franklin Nichols Roy Franklin Nichols (March 3, 1896 – January 12, 1973) was an American historian, who won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for History for ''The Disruption of American Democracy''. Biography Nichols was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Franklin Coriell an ...

'', 1966 ** ''Charles Root Turner'', 1939 * Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia ** ''Boy with Hawk'' ** ''David Gates with Dog'' ** ''Mary Stuard Townsend Mason'' ** ''Master Pomeroy'', ** ''The Puppies' Angel'' ** ''Red-Headed Girl with a Doll'' ** ''James A. Waller'', 1931 * Williams College Museum of Art, Massachusetts ** ''Harriet Walton Dunbar'', 1912

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddard, Alice Kent 1880s births 1976 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Painters from Connecticut People from Watertown, Connecticut 20th-century American women painters 19th-century American women painters Philadelphia School of Design for Women alumni