Alice Macallan Swan

Alice Macallan Swan, R.W.S. (1864– 28 January 1939) was a British artist and a well-known painter of landscapes and other subjects, mostly in watercolour.

Early life Alice Macallan Swan was born in Worcester, the daughter of Robert Wemyss Swan and Elizabeth Macallan. She was the sister of John Macallan Swan and was raised in an artistic atmosphere. She began painting while still a child and was tutored by her brother. She exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1882 and 1898. Swan was actively involved in the Society, including as a committee member of the Royal Water Colour Society Art Club. However, this was Anne Byrne.

In 1923, Swan was commissioned to paint a watercolour of St Paul's Cathedral from Waterloo Bridge for Queen Mary's Dolls' House, now in the Royal Collection Trust.

The Times described Swan's work as:remarkable as much for its complete translation of the facts of nature into values of colour as for its charm of sentiment. It was only in matters of execution that she was, so to speak, old fashioned. Whistler thought very highly of her work, and it is said that he tried for years to persuade her to sell him her "Harmony in Yellow and Gold," an early work which was included in the last exhibition of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours in November, 1938. Miss Swan... excelled in autumn landscapes of a wistful kind, and it was said that in them she seemed to convey the very fragrance of the season.

Death Alice Macallan Swan died at her Kensington studio on 28 January 1939, aged 75. At the time of her death, a half-finished painting of a bowl of flowers was on her easel. Her Times obituary described her as "an excellent painter in watercolours in the somewhat laboured manner of an earlier generation".

Artist and zoologist Guy Dollman wrote:Miss Alice Macallan Swan leaves an empty chair in artistic circles which will not be easily filled... The first thing one noticed about Alice Swan was her good nature, passing through life without a trace of artistic jealousy. She was a woman of great heart and willing on all occasions to assist and encourage those who sought her aid.