Alice Brown Hamlin Chittenden was born in 1859 in Brockport, NY, and grew up from infancy in San Francisco. After graduating from Denman Grammar School in 1876, she attended the California School of Design (now the California School of Fine Arts), winning honors in drawing (1877, 1878) and an Avery Silver Medal in oil painting (1879). Later, after a brief marriage to Charles P. Overton (1886), she resumed her career while raising a daughter. During her residency in San Francisco, which continued thereafter with few interruptions, she also taught at the California School of Design from 1897 until her retirement in 1940.

Chittenden gained her greatest recognition for paintings of California wildflowers. Eventually she completed 350 varieties in 256 studies from all parts of the state, each identified by popular and botanical name. Working primarily in oils, she also produced a number of portraits, usually done in pastels, and landscapes. Many of the latter were of Marin County views, featuring the hillsides and Mt. Tamalpais. She also went on occasion to the High Sierra, Palm Springs, and Nevada.
The artist, who painted in Wales, France, and Italy in 1908 and spent part of a leave of absence in New York in 1915, exhibited for at least 60 years. Her group shows included those of the San Francisco Art Association, Mechanics Institute Fairs, First Annual Exhibition of the Lady Artists of San Francisco, California Midwinter International Exposition, Bohemian Club, Sketch Club, Golden Gate Memorial Museum, and California Building, Golden Gate International Exposition, all in San Francisco; California State Fair, Sacramento; California Building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago; California Building, Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, Portland, OR; Société des Artistes Français, Paris; and California Building, Alaska-Yukon-Pacifiv International Exposition, Seattle. She had one-person exhibitions at the Schussler Gallery, San Francisco (1908); Golden Gate Memorial Museum (1916); and Stanford Art Gallery, Palo Alto, CA (1918, 1922).
Collectors of Chittenden’s works include the Shasta State Historical Monument, Shasta, CA; Oakland Museum; San Jose Historical Museum; San Mateo County Historical Museum; Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Galleries, San Marino, CA; and California Society of Pioneers and California Historical Society, both in San Francisco.

References : WWWAA; Petteys; Trenton; Dawdy 2; Hughes; Club Mag. Aug 1941; SF Chron. 27 Apr 1884, 21 Nov 1886, 7 June 1908, 29 Nov 1908, 17 Mar 1912, 25 Apr 1915, 9 Jan 1916, 10 Mar 1918; SF Exmnr, 29 Apr 1902, 2 Dec 1917, 15 Oct 1944; A. Chittenden papers, AAA, reels R950, 2801, Calif St Lib card (1915); US Cen 1910, San Francisco Co, CA, Ed 292, pg 2; death rec; Larribeau (granddaughter), 1976.