Alice Kellogg Tyler: “The Choicest Spirit of Western Art”

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Alice kellogg tyler, from the collection of joanne w. bowie.

“Her pictures hang upon the various walls of Hull-House; they attract by a rare quarry of beauty and power but always give out clearly this message: Do not consent that life shall become dreary and commonplace.” 

-Jane Addams in her eulogy for Alice Kellogg Tyler

Alice Kellogg Tyler (1862-1900) was a Chicago-born artist and arts educator. She was born to John Leonard and Harriet Scott Kellogg and was one of six daughters. She and her family were very close, spending much of their time together. The girls were encouraged to read and study, and they were practicing Unitarians. Alice suffered from nephritis, an inflammatory condition of the kidneys, which caused her many health issues and complications over the course of her life. Her father was a homeopathic doctor with a private practice. He maintained that Alice could improve her health, depression, and chronic pain by immersing herself in spiritualism and positive thinking, and Alice delved into that study wholeheartedly. Alice was very close to her older sister Kate Starr Kellogg, who was a Chicago Public School teacher and administrator. Kate became a major role model for Alice, embodying the idea that a woman can successfully be independent and professional.

In 1879, Alice began to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and by 1881 she had made so much progress that she won the school’s top prize (three months’ tuition) and became an assistant instructor. In 1882, the Academy was renamed the Art Institute of Chicago. During her studies, Kellogg helped found the Bohemian Art Club, which was one of the first women’s art associations in Chicago. It allowed women artists to work together, learn together, and support each other in a field that was not hospitable to them. In 1883, she met and became close to painter Arthur B. Davies, with whom she shared a romantic attachment. By 1887, Alice had opened a studio with her best friend Ida Haskell. She taught classes at the studio and became an established instructor at the Art Institute.

Paris, France: 1887-1889

In 1887, Alice and Ida Haskell decided to travel to Europe and study in Paris, in hopes of improving their skills in life studies and figure painting. They traveled with Ida’s mother and Alice’s sister Gertrude. They initially spent time in London then made their way to Paris, where Alice studied at the Académie Julian (the same academy Enella Benedict studied at during her time in Paris). They were reunited with several members of the Bohemian Art Club, with whom they lived and shared studio spaces. In 1888, after the death of her favorite teacher at the Académie Julian, she began attending the Académie Colarossi.  

Initially, Alice was shocked at the idea of the co-ed classes and by the much more liberal and “Bohemian” nature of the French men she worked alongside. She wrote to her family of it: “It was not pleasant, I can tell you that...there is such a disregard of all that is delicate, such an air of questionable frankness”. However, as she became more accustomed to it, she wrote: “I more and more realize how there is, has been in America, a false delicacy...I have been a puritan, I have been hard, but I am broken.” She returned to America with the conviction that one could smoke and still “be a lady”, much preferred trousers to skirts, and joked about casting aside corsets. 

She had made so much progress and attained such popularity with her work that she had paintings displayed at the prestigious annual Paris Salon exhibitions in 1888 and 1889. In 1889, she also had work exhibited at the Exposition Universelle (the World’s Fair) in Paris. One piece was a portrait of her sister Gertrude Kellogg, which had also been displayed at the 1889 Paris Salon, and the other a small pastel work. After her visit to the Exposition, Alice decided it was time to return to the United States. 

 

Portrait of Miss G.E.K., 1888. Alice kellogg tyler. oil on canvas.

 

The mother (aka mother and child), 1889. Alice kellogg tyler. oil on canvas.

Home to Chicago: 1889-1900

In late 1889, Alice returned home to Chicago with hopes of continuing to paint and teach. She began teaching out of a private studio, and eventually returned to teaching at the Art Institute in 1892, despite having issues with its still-very patriarchal nature. She returned to working with the Bohemian Art Club, which became The Palette Club, renowned for being the first organization of women painters. She had returned with a piece that would eventually become her most famous – The Mother (aka Mother and Child). This piece was so highly regarded that it cemented her place among the best American artists of her time. It was exhibited in many shows, but most prominent were its showings at the annual exhibition by the Society of American Artists in 1891, which led to her acceptance within that celebrated group, and at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the Columbian Exposition. Along with The Mother, Alice created a mural titled Instruction that was displayed in the Fair’s Illinois Building, as was her portrait of Gertrude, and multiple pieces in the Women’s Building. The Mother was displayed along with her work Intermezzo in the Palace of Fine Arts, making her one of only 15 women artists whose work was displayed in that building.

The following year, Alice married Orno Tyler, a Chicago artist and businessman whom she had known for many years. When she had traveled to Europe, her classmate Arthur B. Davies had headed to New York City as he could not afford a European education. During that time, he and Alice had written back and forth and exchanged gifts, and Alice thought that she might marry him, even writing to her sister Kate that she expected it might be the case. However, in 1892, Davies married a wealthy physician whom he had met in New York, and Alice ended her correspondence with him. Orno Tyler was older than her by over a decade, but their marriage was a happy and supportive one. Orno took no issue with her continued work in the arts and art instruction, which was unusual for that time. Alice suffered a miscarriage in 1895, and due to her poor health, was never able to have children.

Hull-House Settlement, Chicago: 1890-1900

By the time she joined the Hull-House Settlement in 1890, Alice had already been friends with Jane Addams for some time – according to letters from Jane Addams in Munich in 1888, she was staying with Alice and they were visiting places together in the city. Alice was the first Chicago artist to begin working with Hull-House, both by exhibiting her artwork at the Settlement, mainly in its new Butler Art Gallery, and by holding art classes and presenting lectures. She became close friends with many of the Residents of Hull-House, painting portraits of several of them, including Hull-House Kindergarten teacher Jenny Dow, Music School Director Eleanor Smith, Hull-House supporter and physician Cornelia De Bey, Hull-House benefactor and Jane Addams’ life partner Mary Rozet Smith, and Jane Addams herself. The paintings of Dow, Smith, and Addams are all still on display at the Museum today. Working with Hull-House allowed Alice to have a constant presence within the Chicago arts community on all levels, both in the fine arts world and within community arts education and development. In 1897, she illustrated Singing Verses for Children, a songbook written by Lydia Avery Coonley and others from Hull-House. The book was very popular and the illustrations were highly regarded. Eventually, Alice gave The Mother to Jane Addams as a gift. The painting is on display at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.

Portrait of Mary Rozet Smith, 1898. oil on canvas.

portrait of jane addams, 1892. Alice Kellogg Tyler. Oil on Canvas.

Portrait of Cornelia de bey, 1899. Pastel on paper on canvas.

Throughout the years, Alice’s health continued to be an obstacle for her. She expressed in letters and her diary that it hindered her efforts at times, but she generally tried to remain positive and focus on her activities and her work. Though her health weakened over the course of 1899, she continued painting when she was able until her death on Valentine’s Day, 1900. She was 37 years old. Orno never remarried and died in 1917. They are buried together in Mount Greenwood Cemetery. 

The Chicago arts community lamented Alice’s untimely death and honored her achievements in a world so fixed against women’s success. Her work continued to be celebrated in her time, with prominent Chicago artist Lorado Taft calling her “the soul of art personified”. Over time, her work fell into obscurity. However, in recent years her career and many of her works have resurfaced, bringing her back into renown and shining light once more on her legacy.