Alice Cleaver (1878–1944)

Cleaver studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, four years; the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts under William Chase and Cecelia Beaux, three years; and
in Paris for one year until the outbreak of World War I ended her studies. She
spent most of her career painting in her home town of Falls City, Nebraska in
the manner of her Philadelphia training.

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Biography Alice Cleaver

Alice Cleaver was born in 1878 in Falls City, Nebraska, daughter of an

insurance salesman and former homesteader. She studied art at the
University of Nebraska, Art Institute of Chicago, and Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts. While still a student in Philadelphia in the early
1900’s, Cleaver traveled to Arizona and New Mexico in order to paint the
lifestyle and surroundings of the Pueblo Indians. In order to travel, she
would often exchange her paintings for rail fare.
After finishing her studies, Cleaver lived in Paris from 1913-1914,
exhibiting her work and seemingly beginning a promising career as a
 painter. However, she returned to Falls City in 1914 under pressure from
overbearing parents. She remained close to home for the rest of her life,
teaching art and music and continuing to paint a little, but her career was
certainly over.
http://www.medicinemangallery.com/bio/alicecleaver.lasso

Alice Cleaver
(1878-1944)

Museum
Collections
Featuring
Works by
Alice Cleaver

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Alice Cleaver

Alice Cleaver was born in 1878 in Falls City,

Nebraska, daughter of an insurance salesman and
former homesteader. She studied art at the
University of Nebraska, Art Institute of Chicago, and
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. While still a
student in Philadelphia in the early 1900’s, Cleaver
traveled to Arizona and New Mexico in order to
paint the lifestyle and surroundings of the Pueblo
Indians. In order to travel, she would often
exchange her paintings for rail fare.

After finishing her studies, Cleaver lived in Paris

from 1913-1914, exhibiting her work and seemingly
beginning a promising career as a painter.
However, she returned to Falls City in 1914 under
pressure from overbearing parents. She remained
close to home for the rest of her life, teaching art
and music and continuing to paint a little, but her
career was certainly over.

Museum Collections Featuring Works by Alice

Cleaver

Highest Auction Prices for Alice Cleaver

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Alice Cleaver
A MONA Moment
By Ron Roth
Director
Museum of Nebraska Art

Who is this Miss Alice Cleaver, and why

should we be interested in her here in
Nebraska? Well, a strong case could be
made that this Falls City native was
Nebraska's greatest woman visual
artist.
While it is true she began and ended
her career in the field of music - she
studied music at the University of
Nebraska - her brilliance as a painter
was not to be denied. In 1904, she
successfully completed a degree with
honors from the prestigious Chicago Art
Institute. She was accepted into the
Philadelphia of Fine arts and studied for
three years with perhaps the greatest
American artists of that era, William Merritt Chase. Then on to Paris
and studying and exhibiting in the salons and studio of the
international capital of art, and the Latin Quarter Exhibition that was
reported in the New York Times.
So why is Alice Cleaver not widely known or recognized today?
There are many reasons. But be very sure, as one noted art historian
has commented on Cleaver, she "was able to achieve a limited
success that few women of the early 20th Century were able to
attain." Her career in Paris was thwarted by the onset of World War I,
which forced her to leave Europe and return to her hometown of Falls
City. Poor health as a result of a heart ailment, a protective and close
knit family were other factors which perhaps contributed to her not
fully realizing her extraordinary talent.
Hanging in my office now, is a painting by Ms. Cleaver from the
MONA collection, which I greatly admire. An oil painting titled Girl
with Palette.
The overall color tone of the painting is brown, a somber color we
don't normally associate with opportunities for rich, visual effects. But
using subtle gradations of color with hints of multiple hues Miss
Cleaver entertains us with a seminar on the rich possibilities of
brown. Look there, for instance, that fugitive hint of pink in the apron
cascading down from her knee.
And the opportunity for dramatic contrast is not lost on Cleaver. Look
at those glistening mounds of oil paint on the edge of the palette -
pristine, undisturbed, and read for action - ready to be combined with
each other on the empty plane of the palette board above them.
Against the background of brown, these rich dapples of color sparkle
like a string of gems.
This portrait captures a moment of reflection, the pause the artist
takes immediately before transforming her vision onto the canvas.
Her head is tilted pensively, slightly to the right. And, most tellingly,
her eyes are glancing leftward toward something off the canvas to
her left, presumably at the object or model she will be painting.
And look at those fingers of her right hand. The thumb, forefinger and
middle finger are pursed together in a way we associate with
meditation. Her left hand supports her as she leans back against a
table. And where is the paintbrush? It is somewhere outside of the
canvas. Because the subject of this painting is not about the act of
painting, but what goes before: the thinking, the planning, the
reflection, the preparation of the paints-- rituals of the creative act.
http://www.netnebraska.org/extras/monamoments/mo
na12alice.html
Alice Cleaver
b. 1878, Racine, Wisconsin
d. 1944, Falls City, Nebraska
Title: Girl in White - Portrait of Miss Edna Brown
Medium: oil
Date: n.d.
Dimensions:
Acquired by: Museum Purchase & Gift of Dr. Tom Pollard
Accession No: 1992.31

Nebraska's women artists between 1880 and 1950 left a huge legacy. Twelve of the most influential were: Sarah
Wool Moore, Cora Parker, Sarah Sewell Hayden, Elizabeth Tuttle Holsman, Alice Righter Edmiston, Angel DeCora
Dietz, Elizabeth Honor Dolan, Marion Canfield Smith, Alice Cleaver, Gladys M. Lux, Katherine "Kady" Burnap
Faulkner, and Myra Biggerstaff. The Fall 2007 issue of Nebraska History in an article by Sharon L. Kennedy
discusses the contributions these women made to Nebraska art and reproduces some of their most noted works.

http://www.lycos.com/info/women-artists--works.html?page=2