Known primarily for his genre scenes depicting blacks (in whose tenement buildings he located his studio), Alfred Kappes was the son of a German carpenter. Although his NAD obituary states that he studied briefly at the Academy at age 15, there is no record of his enrollment. He became an apprentice to a die sinker, but left soon after to work as an illustrator at Harper Brothers. In 1870, he joined the Daily Graphic and continued drawing illustrations for various publications for many years thereafter.
Kappes won the Academy's First Hallgarten Prize in 1887 for the painting Buckwheat Cakes. Although he was later disqualified for being over the age of 35, the award resulted in his election as an Associate member. A similar favorable reaction to his 1894 entry, Voudoo, led to his election as an Academician, but he died before he was able to qualify with a diploma piece. In addition to the Academy's annuals, Kappes occasionally exhibited at the American Water Color Society, the Boston Art Club, and the Salmagundi Club. He was also an etcher.
His obituary in the Academy minutes reads in part: "His reputation rests mainly upon his admirable scenes of Negro Life which he studied for years in Virginia . . . . Mr. Kappes was not a well man, having an organic disease from his birth, and for the past twelve years was at times absolutely unable to work." Despite pleas from the Academy, Kappes' surviving sister failed to contribute a representative example of his work, and a year after his election, Kappes' status as an Academician was voided.
