Alice Acheson
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Alice Acheson ( Stanley; August 12, 1895 – January 20, 1996) was an American painter and printmaker.


Life

Born in
Charlevoix Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...
,
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, the daughter of artist Jane C. Stanley and the granddaughter of
John Mix Stanley John Mix Stanley (January 17, 1814 – April 10, 1872) was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in the Finger Lakes region of New York, he st ...
; her father, Louis Stanley, was a railroad lawyer. She grew up in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
. She majored in art at
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...
, where among her classmates was the sister of
Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson ( ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American politician and lawyer. As the 51st United States Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to ...
, who introduced the couple; the two married in May 1917, the same month she graduated from college. She continued her artistic studies both before and after moving to
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, with her husband, taking lessons at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Corcoran School of Art, and the school at the
Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips (art collector), Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the ...
. From 1919, she was active as an artist in Washington, eventually joining and exhibiting with the Society of Washington Artists, from which she received an honorable mention in 1940. She was also an active member of the Washington Water Color Club, the Artists Guild of Washington, and the National Association of Women Artists. For the duration of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she abandoned painting to pursue agriculture in support of the war effort, also teaching painting and drawing to wounded servicemen at the Forest Glen annex of
Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), officially known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951, was the United States Army, U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in Washington, D.C., it served more ...
. She took it up again when her husband was appointed
United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...
, but she refused to exhibit until he returned to private life, feeling she would be using his fame to further her own career. During the war, she worked with the Woman's Land Army of America and was the chair of its Women's Advisory Committee. Acheson was described as a fashionable woman who, though she took scant interest in foreign affairs, was devoted to her husband and would defend him against any ill feeling. The couple were the parents of three children, all of whom survived her, as did six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She was noted for her passion for
Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...
and for her independent spirit, at 85 telling off a teenage mugger who attempted to rob her. Acheson died at her home in Washington, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery alongside her husband.


Works

Acheson worked in
pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...
s, watercolor, and oils during her career, progressing from a representational style to something approaching abstraction. Four of her works are in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, part of the original bequest by Joseph Hirshhorn; they include a still-life in oil, dated before 1956; an undated landscape in oil; a 1975 watercolor view of
Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...
; and a 1970 collage titled ''The City''. Two undated watercolors are owned by the
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...
. Other pieces are owned by the Phillips Collection, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Her work was formerly in the collection of the
Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...
, and may be found as well at
American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
and in the Barnett-Aden Collection. Several of her linoleum cut prints were used to illustrate ''New Roads in Old Virginia'' by Agnes Rothberg in 1937. A vertical file pertaining to Acheson's work is at the library of the Phillips Collection; other papers may be found with her husband's private documents at the Yale University Library. She is also featured in some materials held among her husband's official papers at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Paintings and further biographical details can be found on the website of Simonis & Buunk


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acheson, Alice 1895 births 1996 deaths American women printmakers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American women painters People from Charlevoix, Michigan Painters from Detroit Painters from Washington, D.C. Wellesley College alumni School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni Corcoran School of the Arts and Design alumni Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) American women centenarians Spouses of Connecticut politicians Woman's Land Army of America members