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California Historical Society
2090 Jackson Street, San Francisco, California For immediate release
William W. Whitney, Public Information
JO.7-1848
The California wildflower paintings of Alice B. Chittenden will be the subject of an exhibition at The Mansion, headquarters of the California Historical Society, 2090 Jackson Street, San Francisco, from March 30 to May 8, 1965. These paintings represent a lifetime of interest on the part of the artist in botany and natural history that brought her into contact with the noted California naturalist Alice Eastwood. In fact it may be said that Miss Eastwood and Miss Chittenden continued the tradition of naturalist artist association that was established by John Muir and William Keith.
The botanical names, which appear along with the common names, have been added in most cases by Miss Eastwood, who was at the time Curator of Botany at the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. John Thomas Howell, the present Curator of Botany at that institution, supplied additional botanical information where required.
The last public exhibit of the collection was held in 1941, on the occasion of the retirement of Miss Chittenden as teacher of the Saturday class at the Art Institute, a position she held from 1897 to 1941. In this capacity she became the first woman on the faculty of the University of California. Born in New York State in 1859, Miss Chittenden spent almost her entire live in California, where she died in 1944. The loan of the wildflower collection was made possible through the artist’s daughter, Mrs. Miriam Cronier, and her granddaughter, Mrs. Robert Larribeau, both of San Francisco.
Alice Brown Chittenden, painter of landscapes, portraits, flowers, was born October 18, 1860 {should be 1859 RL}, in Brockport, New York. Her father was Joseph Gladdings Chittenden, and her mother, Ann Mariam Green Chittenden, who later divorced her husband and resumed her maiden name. {I believe that Ann Mariam Green Chittenden did not divorce her husband. Alice Brown Chittenden did divorce her husband and resumed her maiden name. RL}
Alice was brought to San Francisco when an infant. She was a student, then a member of the faculty, at the California School of Design, where she studied under Virgil Williams.
Her work brought her numerous medals: at the 1908 Paris Salon exhibition and at the National Academy of Design in New York.
In 1915 she spent the summer at Wiscasset, Maine.
Miss Chittenden had much contact with Alice Eastwood.
She gathered many of her specimens in the Sierra and the western desert. Flowers too delicate to be transported had to be painted where they grew. The botanical names have been added in most cases by Miss Eastwood, at the time curator of Botany at the Academy of Science.
The last public exhibit of the collection was held in 1941 on the occasion of her retirement as teacher of the Saturday class at the Art Institute, a position she held from 1897 to 1941.
Source: California Historical Society
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