Alice Kellogg Tyler (1862 -1900 )

Alice Kellogg was born in Chicago in 1862, the daughter of a doctor. At an early age, her parents recognized her artistic talent. She was one of the first students in the Chicago Art Institute, later to become a teacher there. In 1887, she studied in Paris under recognized teachers at the Academic Julian and Carlorossa School. While in Paris, she exhibited twice in the Saloon and in the American section of the Paris International Exhibition. A portrait of her sister was given an award. In her letters, she constantly expressed humbleness although her work was receiving a lot of praise. In the fall of 1889, she returned to Chicago where she resumed teaching at Art Institute. Her work gained recognition and was included in many Chicago collections and many shows throughout the 1890's. Around 1892, she was asked to join the Society of American Artists, becoming the only women in her time to receive this honor. In 1893, Alice was one of fifteen women to be given space in the Fine Arts Building at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She exhibited two paintings, "Mother and Child" and "Miss G.E.K.". She illustrated a children's book entitled "Singing Verses for Children" (authored by Lydia Avery Coonley, publisher, MacMillan, London, 1897) and two illustrations in "Twenty Years at Hull House" were taken from her paintings. She was one of the first Chicago artists to give her service to the Hull House (See Portrait of Jane Addams at link below).

In 1894, She married Orno J. Tyler. They had one child that only lived for a short time. In 1900, six years after their marriage, Alice became ill and died an untimely death at the age of 38. Newspapers were quoted as saying Chicago had lost a very promising artist. Jane Addams gave the eulogy at her funeral. In the eulogy, I found the words I had been trying to express how I felt about when I looked at her paintings. "Alice Tyler's life obtained for itself a technique so fine that she really achieved what many artists strive for in vain because they first acquire their techniques and then look about for something to express. Her canvasses have always a sort of transparency which lets the glory through, a light of spring, a delicacy of texture as if she would have them a medium through which the divine rays might pass."