Elise Ford

Elise Ford on the poster for the 1934 FDR Birthday Ball.

Elise Ford née Sophie Elise Forsberg (November 27, 1912 - July 23, 1963) was an American painter, who was a student and a favorite model of Howard Chandler Christy.[1] She posed for many of Christy's well-known patriotic posters, including 1941 "I am An American"[2] personifying America "rushing forward to give the touch of the contagion of liberty and democracy to the rest of the world"[3] in the words of then New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. In mid-1930s she posed for Christy's posters for the annual Franklin D. Roosevelt charitable birthday balls to raise funds to fight infantile paralysis.[4] Elise Ford was Christy's companion for over 20 years until his death in 1952 and is the mother of Christy's out-of-wedlock daughter Holly.[5]

Sophie Elise Forsberg was born in New Rochelle, New York as the fourth child of Carl Theodore Forsberg, an engineer, and Sophia L. Maxmann. She went to Montclair, New Jersey High School where "she has won many medals for swimming, running and public speaking"[6]. She then studied singing and acting at Alvienne Theater and Dramatic Arts school in New York City. She also finished a two-year night course in textile design and printing processes at Pratt Institute.

She died in St. Petersburg, Florida.

References

  1. ↑ "Can you help fill in the missing provenance of a railroad safety painting from the 1930s?". Washington Post. December 28, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Howard Chandler Christy original artwork exceeds presale auction estimate". Chicago Tribune. November 11, 2016.
  3. ↑ "City Gets Poster for Liberty Rally". New York Times. May 4, 1941. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Birthday Poster Girl Praised by Christy". Pampa Daily News. January 24, 1935.
  5. ↑ Heller, Steven (June 13, 2014). "My Dad, the Famous Painter?". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Christy again paints poster". The Index-Journal. January 3, 1936.
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