Alice Maria Nordin was a Swedish sculptor born in 1871 in Stockholm. At age 14 she started at the Technical School for female apprentices in Stockholm. From 1890−1896 she studied sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Konstakademien) under John Börjeson and Theodor Lundberg. Her work gained noticed while she was a student and she was awarded the ducal medal in 1895 for her sculpture "Dusk" (Skymning). That same year she received the royal medal for "A Spring Dream" (En Vårdröm). Later she traveled to Paris and studied at Académie Colarossi.

     In 1901 she traveled abroad again and she led a nomadic life over the ensuing decades, with periods spent working in Stockholm, Skagen, Paris, Rome and Florence, from whence she sent travelogues to the journal "Idun". For casting and sales of her works she employed Herman Bergman’s Konstgjuteri from 1906 to 1933, a workshop that had its own exhibition gallery and printed catalogues of products. “Life-sized” marble sculptures were cut in Florence by Luigi Arighetti from 1903 to 1937.

     In 1911 she became the first female sculptor to have an exhibition at the Swedish Artists Association (Konstnärshuset) where she displayed 50 of her works. Later exhibitions of her own were presented at the Norrköping Museum in 1919, in Helsingborg in 1920, and in Stockholm in 1922.

     In the mid-1920s Alice Nordin’s work took on a new style. She gave up the light, sentimental, idealistic elements of form and began to adopt a cautiously tightened style in the spirit of modernism. In 1925, Nordin became the first female artist to receive the Swedish Royal Medal Litteris et Artibus. In 1932 her work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the Summer Olympics.

     In 1903 the Danish master Viggo Johansen painted a portrait of Alice Nordin which hangs in Skagens Museum. In 2022 the National Museum in Stockholm held an exhibition of works by Nordic women sculptors that prominently featured works by Nordin. Also in 2022 Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde held an exhibitionm on the composer Hugo Alfvén that included works by Nordin as well as Marie Krøyer, Prince Eugen, Anders Zorn and Carl Milles. The Gothenburg University Library has an archive for Nordin’s works that include sketches, drawings, photos, notebooks, and letters.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• Nationalmuseum in Stockholm

• Norrköpings Museum

• Golden Gate Museum Sculpture Garden in San Francisco

• Swedish Museum Public Collection

• The Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm