Elisabeth Telling

Elisabeth Telling
A young white woman with dark hair in an updo, in an oval frame
Elisabeth Telling, from the 1904 yearbook of Smith College
Born
Elisabeth Irma Telling

(1882-07-14)July 14, 1882
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedMarch 30, 1979(1979-03-30) (aged 96)
Guilford, Connecticut, U.S.
OccupationArtist

Elisabeth Irma Telling (July 14, 1882 – March 30, 1979) was an American artist based in Chicago, best known for her ethnographic drawings and portraits of children.

Early life and education

Telling was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of John E. Telling and Annie Telling. She graduated from Smith College in 1904.[1] After college she studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, with William Penhallow Henderson, with further studies in Münich and in New England.[2][3]

Career

Telling was an artist based in Chicago,[4] best known for pastel portraits and drypoint etchings.[5] She had a solo show, "Portrait Drypoints and Drawings by Elisabeth Telling", at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922.[6][7] "She has seen the peculiar fitness of etching for expressing those subtle and illusive qualities characteristic of childhood," noted the Art Institute of Chicago of the show's portraits of young sitters.[3] She showed her portraits from her travels in Java, Bali, and Thailand at the Brooklyn Museum in 1932.[8][9] The Field Museum of Natural History sponsored her ethnographic trips to the Yucatan in 1933, and to Guatemala in 1934. In 1937 she had a joint exhibit with painter Frances Foy at the Art Institute of Chicago.[10] She also exhibited works in Philadelphia,[11] Los Angeles,[12] and Washington, D.C.[5]

Telling donated many of her ethnographic pastel drawings to the Field Museum, where they were exhibited in a 1957 show titled "Peasants and Princes: Portraits of Human Types in Indonesia and Central America".[13][14]

Publications

  • "Radan Mas Ario Djojodipoero" (1932, article, Smith Alumnae Quarterly)[15]

Death and legacy

Telling died in 1979, at the age of 96, in Guilford, Connecticut.[16] Smith College Archives has some of Telling's papers, including correspondence, diaries, and photographs.[17] Her work is in the collections of museums including the Delaware Art Museum.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Smith College, Class of 1904 (1904 yearbook): 39; via Internet Archive.
  2. ↑ "Elisabeth Telling Biography". Annex Galleries Fine Prints. Archived from the original on 2025-12-10. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  3. 1 2 "Current Exhibitions". Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago. 16 (1): 10. January–February 1922 – via internet Archive.
  4. ↑ "Elizabeth Telling – Illinois Women Artists". Archived from the original on 2023-06-06. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  5. 1 2 Mechlin, Leila (1937-02-27). "Whistler Touch in Portrait Exhibit". Evening Star. p. 19. Retrieved 2025-10-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Art Institute of Chicago (1922). Annual Report - Art Institute of Chicago. p. 35.
  7. ↑ Smith, Donald E. (2004). American Printmakers of the Twentieth Century: A Bibliography. Donald E. Smith. p. 325. ISBN 978-1-878282-28-6.
  8. ↑ Shavit, David (2019-07-18). Bali and the Tourist Industry: A History, 1906-1942. McFarland. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4766-1096-2.
  9. ↑ Keating, Isabelle (1932-11-16). "Artist Who Went on Cruise to Rest Answers Challenge of the Orient with Pictures to be Hung Here". Brooklyn Eagle. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-10-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Gallery Talks on the Current Exhibitions". Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago. 31 (5): 74. September–October 1937 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ Philadelphia Water Color Club; Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1905). Catalogue of the ... annual Philadelphia water color exhibition. Getty Research Institute. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
  12. ↑ Natural History Museum Los Angeles County (1924-03-01). Fifth International Print Makers Exhibition under the auspices of the Print Makers Society of California.
  13. ↑ "Two Contributors Elected". Chicago Natural History Museum Bulletin. 28 (2): 8 – via internet Archive.
  14. ↑ "Character Sketches by a World-Roaming Artist". Chicago Natural History Museum Bulletin. 28 (7): 7. July 1957 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ↑ Telling, Elisabeth (November 1932). "Radan Mas Ario Djojodipoero". Smith Alumnae Quarterly: 26–28 – via Internet Archive.
  16. ↑ "E. Telling, 96, is Dead; Artist". Hartford Courant. 1979-04-03. p. 14. Retrieved 2025-10-21 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ Elisabeth Telling Papers Archived 2024-07-30 at the Wayback Machine, Smith College Archives.
  18. ↑ Telling, Elisabeth. "Patty Stringing Beads". Delaare Art Museum. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
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