Albert Elsen


Albert Edward Elsen was an American art historian. He was a professor at Stanford University, and the author of several books about Auguste Rodin.

Early life

Elsen was born in 1927 in New York City. He earned a BA, MA and PhD from Columbia University.

Career

Elsen taught Art History at Carleton College from 1952 to 1958, and at Indiana University for the next decade. He became a professor at Stanford University in 1968. He encouraged B. Gerald Cantor, the chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, to establish the Rodin Sculpture Garden on campus.
Elsen authored several books, most notably about sculptor Auguste Rodin. According to the Baltimore Sun, Elsen was "credited with reviving public and scholarly awareness of Rodin's work." Other books authored by Elsen were about abstract expressionist painters Paul Jenkins and Seymour Lipton, as well as about Henri Matisse.

Personal life and death

Elsen was married twice. He divorced his first wife, Patricia Morgan Kline, and subsequently married Sharon McClenahan Elsen. He had a son and two daughters, and he resided in Stanford, California.
Elsen died of a heart attack on February 2, 1995 in Stanford.