Background
Kinkead was born in Tuam in 1871. Her father, Doctor Richard John Kindead, General Practice (1844–1928), was appointed Professor of Gynaecology at National University of Ireland, Galway in 1876, wherein the family moved to Forster House in the town.
Career
Educated in Galway and Paris, she moved permanently to London in her career as an artist. Her associates included Edith Anna Somerville, Violet Florence Martin, Lady Gregory, West.B. and Jack Yeats, Frances Perkins, Ethel Smyth. Her brother Francis died in a tragic drowning accident on Lough Corrib in August 1887.
Her surviving brother, Captain Richard Kinkead, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed in action at Ypres on 30 October 1914.
While in Corsica in 1921, Alice Kinkead befriended the writer, Joseph Conrad. This friendship led to her painting his last portrait in 1924, shortly before his death.