BROWN, ALICE VAN VECHTEN

born June 7, 1862, Hanover, N.H., U.S. died Oct. 16, 1949, Middletown, N.J. art educator known for initiating programs in the teaching of art history in the United States. Brown studied painting from 1881 to 1885 at the Art Students' League in New York City, intending to become an artist. She turned instead to teaching, becoming assistant director of the Norwich (Conn.) Art School in 1891. There her teaching attracted attention, particularly her use of a laboratory method of art history: students, to sharpen their powers of observation, drew and modelled representations of the art they studied. In 1897 Brown took a position at Wellesley College (Wellesley, Mass.), where she reorganized its art program and introduced her laboratory method. By 1900 Wellesley was offering the first major course of study in art history in the country. Brown also introduced the first course in museum training (1911) and sponsored the first course ever given in the United States in modern art (1927). Her writings include, with William Rankin, A Short History of Italian Painting (1914).