Abigail May Alcott Nieriker

Abigail May Alcott Nieriker (July 26, 1840 – December 29, 1879) was an American artist and the youngest sister of Louisa May Alcott. She was the basis for the character Amy (an anagram of May) in her sister's semi-autobiographical novel Little Women (1868). She was named after her mother, Abigail May, and first called Abba, then Abby, and finally May, which she asked to be called in November 1863 when in her twenties.

Early life

thumb|May Alcott Nieriker, [[Orchard House, watercolor of the Alcott family home, before 1879]]

thumb|right|250px|But it was too late; the study-door flew open, and Beth ran straight into her father's arms. Illustration from Little Women, published by [[Roberts Brothers (publishers)|Roberts Bros., 1868]]thumb|May Alcott Nieriker, [[Westminster Abbey, watercolor, by 1879]]

thumb|May Alcott Nieriker, La Négresse, 1879. Exhibited at the 1879 Paris Salonthumb|May Alcott Nieriker, Floral Panel, oil on panel in Louisa's room in Orchard House, made by 1879

Abigail May Alcott was born July 26, 1840, in Concord, Massachusetts, the youngest of the four daughters born to Amos Bronson Alcott and Abigail May Alcott.

Her sister was the novelist Louisa May Alcott, who supported her studies in Europe and with whom she had a fond relationship, although Louisa May was, at times, jealous of her family life and her ability to get what she wanted and needed.

Artistic from an early age, she inspired the character of Amy, one of the sisters in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, whom Louisa described as follows: "She was never so happy as when copying flowers, designing fairies, or illustrating stories with queer specimens of art."

Public education

She studied teaching at the Bowdoin School, a Boston public school beginning in January, 1853. Taking over for Louisa in 1861, May taught at the first Kindergarten founded by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody for a month before returning to her own work. Beginning in December 1860, May was in Syracuse, New York, where she taught an early form of art therapy at Dr. Wilbur's asylum (Syracuse State School). then returned home in August 1861

Art

19th-century women artists

As educational opportunities expanded in the 19th century, women artists became part of professional enterprises, which included them founding their own art associations. Artwork created by women was considered to be inferior; women, in response to that stereotype, helped overcome it by becoming "increasingly vocal and confident" in promoting women's work, and thus became part of the emerging image of the educated, modern, and freer "New Woman". Artists, then, "played crucial roles in representing the New Woman, both by drawing images of the icon and exemplifying this emerging type through their own lives."

Education

Beginning in 1859, Alcott studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. May Alcott visited Paris, studied at the Académie Julian in 1870 and exhibited in both cities, as she also did later elsewhere in the US and in London. She painted flowers mainly, but also made excellent copies of works by J.M.W. Turner. She studied art anatomy with William Rimmer in Boston and also studied with William Morris Hunt, Krug, Vautier, and Müller among others. She even taught art to the young Daniel Chester French.

She studied in Paris, London, and Rome during three European trips in 1870, 1873 and 1877, which the 1868 publication of her sister Louisa's book Little Women made possible.

Alcott had illustrated the first edition of Little Women, to a negative critical reception. The early illustrations were made before her trips to and studies in Europe.

Career

After studying in Paris, she divided her time between Boston, London and Paris. Her strength was as a copyist and as a painter of still life, either in oils or watercolors.

She published Concord Sketches with a preface by her sister Louisa May (Boston, 1869). After having studied in Europe, she had become "an accomplished artist" by the 1870s, and her works during that time showed marked improvement compared to the earlier illustrations for Little Women and the "quirky" depiction of Walden Pond in Concord Sketches. Her works after her European studies and exposure to great works of art reflected "a surer hand, a clearer focus, and a broader vision as the world".

In 1877, her still life was the only painting by an American woman to be exhibited in the Paris Salon, May was 38 years old and Ernest Nieriker was a 22-year-old Swiss tobacco merchant and violinist. The couple honeymooned in Le Havre In it, "Alcott sets out to prove Avis in the wrong about a woman's ability to combine art, matrimony, and motherhood."|group="nb"

The following year, she made the painting La Négresse, which was exhibited at the Paris Salon, "what might be judged her masterpiece" of her career. It is a realistic painting of a black woman that portrays her unique individuality without being romantic or erotic.</blockquote>

Childbirth and death

On November 8, 1879, in Paris, May gave birth to a daughter, Louisa May "Lulu." Seven weeks later on December 29, 1879, May died, possibly of childbed fever. By her wish and because Ernest traveled often for work, May's sister Louisa May brought up Lulu