Irene Rice Pereira, 1902-1971

I. (Irene) Rice Pereira was born Irene Rice on August 5, 1902, in Chelsea, Massachusetts (see 1, below). Her parents were Hilda (Vanderbilt) and Emery Rice (see 2, below); she had two sisters, Juanita and Dorothy, and a brother, James. The family lived in Chelsea, Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and Boston, all in Massachusetts, before moving to Brooklyn, New York, where Irene attended high school. She studied at the Art Students' League in New York, and in 1929 married Humberto Pereira, a commercial artist.

In 1931 IRP traveled in Europe and North Africa; she later regarded the North Africa trip as influential in the development of her art. She was divorced from Humberto Pereira in 1938, married George Wellington Brown in 1942, and divorced him in 1950. She was married to George Reavey from 1950 to 1959. She continued to use "I. Rice Pereira" as her professional name throughout her life.

...