Her parents were ardent abolitionists and took an active role in the war effort by providing care to wounded soldiers and helping to protect runaway slaves.

[11] At seventeen, when the Civil War ended, Perry moved with her family to a farm in Canton, Massachusetts, where much of her early interest in landscapes and nature was shaped.

In January 1886, she began to study with Robert Vonnoh, an artist who worked in the Impressionist's en plein air style at Grez-sur-Loing in France.

[11] In addition to receiving formal academic training, Perry spent much of her time studying the old masters in museums with Bernard Berenson, an art critic and her husband's friend.

Perry's The Red Hat from 1888 strongly reflects the formal training she had received and her exposure to the old masters, especially the work of Sandro Botticelli.

[11] With the encouragement of Walter Gay,[11] Perry submitted two paintings she had recently completed to the Société des Artistes Indépendants.

Inspired by his work, the Perrys spent the next summer in Giverny, where Monet lived, in order to further expose Lilla to the Impressionist's style.

During her time in Giverny, she formed a close friendship with Claude Monet, whose impressionistic handling of color and light greatly inspired her work.

Unlike her earlier portraits, such as The Letter, which relied on more traditional techniques to carefully render the subject matter, La Petite Angèle, II, is clearly impressionistic in style with its free form brushstrokes that capture the impression of light and color.

Giverny and, more specifically, Claude Monet inspired Perry to work with en plein air forms, impressionistic brushstrokes, soft colors, and poppy red.

In the window of La Petite Angèle, II, we see the beginnings of what would become Perry's love affair with the Impressionist's handling of the landscape theme.

[11] In 1894, Perry had achieved another success when her Impressionist paintings were exhibited in Boston at the St. Botolph Club with other artists, including Edmund C. Tarbell (1862–1938), Philip Leslie Hale (1865–1931), Theodore Wendel (1859–1932), Frederick Porter Vinton (1846–1911), and Dawson Dawson-Watson (1864–1939).

[11] A new inspiration entered Perry's life in 1897 when her husband received a teaching position in Japan as an English professor at the Keio Gijuku University.

[18] In October 1898, Perry exhibited her work in Tokyo, with the assistance of Kakuzō,[17][18] and became an honorary member of the Nippon Bijutsu-In Art Association.

Perry's involvement with the Asian art world greatly influenced her work and made it possible for her to develop a unique style that brought together western and eastern aesthetic traditions.

Her Meditation, Child in a Kimono, and Young Girl with an Orange vibrantly illustrate the distinct changes that occurred in her work during her stay in Japan.

Unlike her earlier works, these compositions draw on uniquely eastern subject matter and show a strong influence of the clean lines from Japanese prints.

The result of this blending of east and west is striking, with Impressionist portraits flowing seamlessly with the well-organized, balanced compositions that the eastern art world was known for at the time.

In 1904, her Portrait of Mrs. Joseph Clark Grew [Alice Perry] won a bronze medal at the prestigious International Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St.

[11] Frequent moves and losses from unprofitable investments,[11] along with having spent most of the inheritance from her father,[17] meant that Perry constantly needed to commission portraits to support the family, which took a toll on her health.

[17] She regained her health and had six of her paintings exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Indépendants, including Dans un Bateau and Le Paravent Jaune in 1908.

The following year, she demonstrated her renewed enthusiasm for her art by creating a rare urban view for her oeuvre, The State House, Boston (1910).

[5] By 1915, Perry had received yet another bronze medal at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California[5] for her portrait, Hildegarde, the daughter of a friend.

In 1913, Perry helped to form the ultra-conservative Guild of Boston Artists in order to oppose the art world's avant-garde trends.

[21] After a period of mourning, Perry again allowed her work to be exhibited at the Guild of Boston Artists – the organization she helped to establish – in 1929 and then again in 1931.

[5] Her blending of eastern and western aesthetics and her sensitive visions of the feminine and natural worlds offered significant stylistic contributions to both the American and French Impressionist schools.

She furthered the American careers of her close friends Claude Monet and John Breck by lecturing stateside on their talents and showcasing their works.