Abigail May Alcott Nieriker (July 26, 1840 – December 29, 1879) was an American artist and the youngest sister of

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Little Men'' (1871) and ''Jo's Boys'' (1886). Raised in ...

. She was the basis for the character AmyDinitia Smith
From Alcott, a Parable for a Spirited Niece."
The New York Times. March 27, 2002. Retrieved March 2, 2014. (an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of May) in her sister's

semi-autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. Bec ...

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Alcott wrote the book, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives ...

'' (1868). She was named after her mother, Abigail May, and first called Abba, then Abby, and finally May, which she asked to be called in November 1863 when in her twenties.

Early life

May Alcott Nieriker - Orchard House - watercolor - before 1879

May Alcott Nieriker - La Negresse - 1879

May Alcott Nieriker - Floral Panel- oil on panel - by 1879

Abigail May Alcott was born July 26, 1840, in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...

, the youngest of the four daughters born to

Amos Bronson Alcott Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and av ...

and Abigail May Alcott.''May Alcott Nieriker''
Louisa May Alcott, Orchard House Museum. Retrieved February 25, 2014.This article incorporates text from a publication now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

: Her sister was the novelist

, who supported her studies in Europe and with whom she had a fond relationship, although Louisa May was at times jealous of her family life as well as her ability to get what she wanted and needed.Louisa May Alcott.
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott
'. University of Georgia Press; 1997. . p. 12. Artistic from an early age, she was the inspiration for Amy, one of the sisters in Louisa May Alcott's ''

'', who was described as follows: "She was never so happy as when copying flowers, designing fairies, or illustrating stories with queer specimens of art."

Public education

She studied teaching at the Bowdoin School, a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

public school beginning in January, 1853. Taking over for Louisa in 1861, May taught at the first

Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

founded by

Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic de ...

for a month before returning to her own work. Beginning in December, 1860, May was in Syracuse,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where she taught an early form of

art therapy Art therapy (not to be confused with ''arts therapy'', which includes other creative therapies such as drama therapy and music therapy) is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art thera ...

at Dr. Wilbur's asylum (

Syracuse State School The Syracuse State School was a residential facility in Syracuse, New York for mentally disabled children and adults. Founded in 1851 in Albany, New York as the New York State Asylum for Idiots, its first director was Hervey B. Wilbur, a student ...

). then returned home in August, 1861 or 1862 to begin teaching art at the Concord school run by her father's friend

Franklin Benjamin Sanborn Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (December 15, 1831 – February 24, 1917) was an American journalist, teacher, author, reformer, and abolitionist. Sanborn was a social scientist, and a memorialist of American transcendentalism who wrote early biograp ...

.Madeleine B. Stern.
Louisa May Alcott: A Biography
'. UPNE; 1999. . p. 104.

Art

19th-century women artists

As educational opportunities expanded in the 19th century, women artists became part of professional enterprises, including founding their own art associations. Artwork created by women was considered to be inferior, and to help overcome that stereotype women became "increasingly vocal and confident" in promoting women's work, and thus became part of the emerging image of the educated, modern and freer "

New Woman The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article, to refer to ...

". Artists then, "played crucial roles in representing the New Woman, both by drawing images of the icon and exemplifying this emerging type through their own lives."

Education

Beginning in 1859, Alcott studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. May Alcott visited Paris, studied at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

in 1870 and exhibited in both cities, as well as elsewhere in the US and in London. She painted mainly flowers, but also made excellent copies of works by

J.M.W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbule ...

. She studied art anatomy with

William Rimmer William Rimmer (20 February 181620 August 1879) was an American artist born in Liverpool, England. Biography William Rimmer was the son of a French refugee, who emigrated to Nova Scotia, where he was joined by his wife and child in 1818, and ...

in Boston, and also studied with

William Morris Hunt William Morris Hunt (March 31, 1824September 8, 1879) was an American painter. Born into the political Hunt family of Vermont, he trained in Paris with the realist Jean-François Millet and studied under him at the Barbizon artists’ colony, bef ...

, Krug, Vautier and Müller among others.Ednah D. Cheney.
The Life of Louisa May Alcott
'. Cosimo, Inc.; 1 January 2010. . p. 255. She taught art to young

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...

. She studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

during three European trips in 1870, 1873 and 1877, which were made possible by the publication in 1868 of her sister Louisa's book ''

''. She traveled on at least one of the trips with Alice Bartlett and her sister Louisa May, where she "came into her own as an artist." She studied sculpture, sketching and painting. In Europe she found that women had greater educational opportunities than in the United States, but the art academies did not allow women to paint live nude models. For that, she studied under Krug, who managed to enable both male and female students to paint live models.Deborah Barker
''Aesthetics and Gender in American Literature: Portraits of the Woman Artist.''
Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2000. p. 222 Alcott had illustrated the first edition of ''Little Women'', to a negative critical reception. The early illustrations were made before her trips to and studies in Europe.

Career

After studying in Paris, she subsequently divided her time between Boston, London and Paris. Her strength was as a copyist and as a painter of still life, either in oils or watercolors. Her success as a copyist of Turner was such as to command the praise of Mr.

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

, and secure the adoption of some of her work for the pupils to copy at the South Kensington schools in London. She published ''Concord Sketches'' with a preface by her sister Louisa May (Boston, 1869). After having studied in Europe, she had become "an accomplished artist" by the 1870s, and her works during that time showed marked improvement compared to the earlier illustrations for ''Little Women'' and the "quirky" depiction of

Walden Pond Walden Pond is a pond in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago. The pond is protected as part of Walden Pond State Reservation, a state par ...

in ''Concord Sketches.'' Her works after her European studies and exposure to great works of art reflected "a surer hand, a clearer focus, and a broader vision as the world". She created the plan and outfitted a studio in 1875 for a

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

art center to support and promote emerging artists. In 1877, her

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

was the only painting by an American woman to be exhibited in the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

, selected over the work of

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

. She made portraits and paintings of exterior scenes, some with an oriental flair.

praised her copies of J.M.W. Turner, having called her "the foremost copyist of Turner of her time." Her strength was as a copyist and as a painter of still life, in oils and watercolors, and she painted many panels featuring flowers on a black background. A panel of

goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus ''Solidago''. Several genera, such as ''Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the genus ...

given to neighbor/mentor

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

still hangs in his study. Several can also be seen at the

Orchard House Orchard House is a historic house museum in Concord, Massachusetts, United States, opened to the public on May 27, 1912. It was the longtime home of Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) and his family, including his daughter Louisa May Alcott (1832 ...

in Concord. She was living in London and studying landscape art when she met Ernest Nieriker. The couple married on March 22, 1878, in London. The marriage was said by authors Eiselein and Phillips to have occurred despite her family's reluctance. In contrast, Louisa Alcott called the day a "happy event" and described Ernest as a handsome, cultivated and successful "tender friend". Further, "May is old enough to choose for herself, and seems so happy in the new relation that we have nothing to say against it."Louisa May Alcott.
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott
'. University of Georgia Press; 1997. . p. 209. May was 38 years old, and Ernest Nieriker a 22-year-old Swiss tobacco merchantJudy Stone
"A Look At Another Branch of the Louisa May Alcott Family Tree."
Philadelphia: ''The Inquirer''. January 15, 1995. Retrieved March 2, 2014. and violinist. Ernest was supportive of May's artist career and had helped her through the death of her mother on November 25, 1877, and they were engaged in February 1878.Louisa May Alcott.
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott
'. University of Georgia Press; 1997. . p. xxiv. The couple honeymooned in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

and then lived in

Meudon Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...

, a Parisian suburb, where she primarily lived after her marriage. The following year, she made the painting ''La Négresse'', which was exhibited at the Paris Salon, "what might be judged her masterpiece" of her career.Conni Maloni
"Lessons, sketching and her dreams: May Alcott as Artist."
Massachusetts: Concord Magazine. Autumn 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2014. It is a realistic painting of a black woman that portrays her unique individuality without being romantic or erotic. In her letters to family members, May expressed her happiness of married life as an artist in Paris. In her book ''Studying Art Abroad, and How to do it Cheaply'' (Boston 1879) she advised:

"There is no art world like Paris, no painters like the French, and no incentive to good work equal to that found in a Paris atelier."

Childbirth and death

On November 8, 1879, in Paris, May gave birth to a daughter, Louisa May "Lulu." Seven weeks later on December 29, 1879, May died, possibly of childbed fever.Louisa May Alcott.
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott
'. University of Georgia Press; 1997. . p. 219. By her wish, and because Ernest traveled often for work, May's sister Louisa May brought up Lulu until her death in 1888. Then, Lulu was raised by her father, Ernest Nieriker, in Zurich, Switzerland. Though Louisa placed a stone with her initials at the family plot at

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch C ...

, May is buried in ParisReisen, Harriet. ''Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women''. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2009: 300. at

Montrouge Montrouge () is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased again in recent years. ...

. In 2002, an exhibition of her work and life, "Lessons, sketching, and her dreams: May Alcott as Artist", was the first major show of her work.

Gallery

File:May Alcott Nieriker - Amos Bronson Alcott in his study - by 1879.jpg, May Alcott Nieriker, ''

in his study'', by 1879 File:Ernest Nieriker.jpg, Ernest Nieriker, May Alcott's husband

Publication

* ::Reprinted (2015) Fb &C Limited

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcott Nieriker, Abigail May Alcott family American women painters Botanical illustrators Painters from Massachusetts 1840 births 1879 deaths People from Concord, Massachusetts 19th-century American painters American women illustrators Académie Julian alumni Art copyists 19th-century American women artists American expatriates in France Quincy family Sewall family Deaths in childbirth