Alice, a Life was painted as a commission for Dennis Smith, former student, and friend to Mrs. Alice. The work highlights scenes from Mrs. Alice’s relationship with Dennis Smith.

At the center of the painting’s geometrical composition is a vignette of a schoolroom. Here we see Mrs. Alice instructing her class in which Dennis Smith was a student. It is here where Smith’s relationship with Alice Moseley began. Smith shared many pleasant memories of Mrs. Alice as a teacher with our museum staff as she encouraged Smith to pursue his writing talents in poetry.

The painting includes renderings of many of Mrs. Alice’s homes across the south. To the top of the circular vignette is a painting of Mrs. Alice’s home in Memphis, Tennessee. To the left is her home in Pope, Mississippi, including a hunting scene of Mrs. Alice’s husband, Mose, and Dennis. At the bottom of the painting is a painting of Mrs. Alice’s home in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. All three homes feature Christmas decorations, a node to Dennis’s yearly Christmas visits to Mrs. Alice’s family.

To the right of the vignette, we see a pile of letters addressed to various schools and addresses, these point to the different stages of Dennis’ life that Mrs. Alice watched Dennis grow into. Also, to the right is a Christmas scene pointing to the importance of the season to Alice and Dennis’s relationship.

Like most of Mrs. Alice’s works, the painting is characterized by bright colors and small unique details. What sets this painting apart is the emphasis on personal symbolism. While Alice Moseley’s works do rely on cultural or regional symbolism, “Alice, a Life” is only readable to those who knew Dennis and Alice’s relationship first hand.