Alice Forman was born in 1931 in New York City, and studied at the Art Students League during the 1950s. As expected from an art student of the fifties, Forman’s earlier works were abstractions. Her work was featured in the “Young America 1960” show at the Whitney Museum that also included Alex Katz, Wolf Kahn, and other prominent artists; and she was a member of the 10th Street cooperative Camino Gallery along with Elaine de Kooning. When the Camino closed in 1963, she moved uptown to the high-profile Phoenix Gallery. She was a lifelong friend of James Rosenquist, and they went on to share a studio in East Hampton for many years.
In her later years, Forman taught studio art at Vassar College and explored a more modern take on still lifes which were exhibited in galleries in New York, the Hamptons and Florida.