NELSON, Alice Kerr

1856 - 1913

Alice Kerr Nelson was born at Corstorphine, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland on 12 February 1856, daughter of George William Kerr Nelson (6 January 1815-19 December 1877) and his wife Emily née Hardman, who was baptised at Hereford on 24 February 1833 and married at Holmer, Herefordshire on 7 September 1854. In 1861, Alice was a 5-year-old, living at 10 Union Grove, Clapham, Wandsworth, London with her parents, 46-year-old George, a clerk at Whitechapel, and 28-year-old Emily, and Alice's sibling brother George Kerr, who was born at Ewyas Harold, Hereford in 1857, together with George's 42 year old uncle Edward Nelson and 24-year-old niece Eleanor Legros. Alice was educated at a school for young ladies kept by Sophia Drury at 13 Radnor Place, Paddington and in 1878 sent her first watercolour to the Royal Academy, however this was rejected for exhibition. She then worked at Heatherley School of Fine Art in Newman Street, London where she began to paint heads and costumed figures. In 1881, a 25-year-old 'artist painting', lodging at 37 Bolsover Street, Portland Road, Marylebone, London and as Miss A. Kerr Nelson, she exhibited at the Ipswich Fine Art Club in 1882 from 37 Bolsover Street, London, three Suffolk scenes 'Moonlight on the Orwell', 'Pin Mill at Low Tide' and a watercolour 'On the Gipping', these must have been presented for exhibition before her trip to Paris and marriage. Alice went to Paris to further her art training and where she met German/American artist Carl Hirschberg (8 March 1854-May 1923) and in 1881 they were married and, after the birth of their first son Carl Nelson Hirschberg in 1884, Carl returned to the United States with his wife and son, another another of their sons was artist painter and teacher George Laurence Nelson [Hirschberg] (1887-1978), who took his mother's name and was born in the United States. Alice was known for watercolours, illustrations, portraits, landscapes, and elaborate interiors and exhibited widely in the United States including at the Art Institute of Chicago; The Boston Art Club and The National Academy of Artistic Design. Notes regarding Alice appear in the Smithsonian Archives of Artists along with her husband and son. Alice Kerr Hirschberg died at Manhattan, New York on 19 June 1913.

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Works by This Artist