Elsa Jemne


Elsa Laubach Jemne was an American landscape painter, portraitist, muralist and illustrator born in St. Paul, Minnesota. She attended the St. Paul Institute before continuing her art studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Jemne returned to the Midwest, where she made most of her art. She completed several murals in Minnesota and Wisconsin on commission for the Federal Art Project, which were created in public buildings such as post offices and courthouses. She also had works in local schools and similar institutions, and illustrated several books, including two by Norwegian writer Marie Hamsun translated into English.

Education

Jemne was a student of Violet Oakley, Cecilia Beaux, Daniel Garber, Emil Carlsen, and Joseph Pearson. She was awarded the Cresson Traveling Scholarship in both 1914 and 1915. While still a student, Jemne made commercial art, which she found "stupid, uncongenial, & maddening in its monotony."

Life

Elsa Jemne became an advocate for art and culture in her home state of Minnesota in the early 20th century during the Great Depression. Not interested in commercial art, she traveled by bus throughout what is known as "the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota." She was commissioned to paint several murals depicting locally and regionally important themes. She completed six murals under the auspices of the Federal Art Project, which commissioned works for United States post offices and courthouses. She completed "Minnesota," an allegorical depiction of her home state, in 1937, in a style that reveals the influence of both Oakey and Diego Rivera on her work.
She had married architect Magnus Jemne, with whom she sometimes collaborated. One of their collaborations was the Art Moderne-style Saint Paul Women's City Club. Elsa Laubach Jemne died in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1974.

Work

In addition, Jemne had other commissions: