Elise Ford

Elise Ford née Sophie Elise Forsberg (November 27, 1912 - July 23, 1963) was an American painter,[1][2] who was a student and a favorite model of Howard Chandler Christy.[3][4] She posed for many of Christy's well-known patriotic posters,[5][6] including 1941 "I am An American"[7] personifying America "rushing forward to give the touch of the contagion of liberty and democracy to the rest of the world"[8] 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.[9] Elise Ford, 40 years younger than Christy, was his companion[5] for over 20 years until his death in 1952, and she is the mother of Christy's out-of-wedlock daughter Holly.[1][10]

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

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".[11] 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. Heller, Steven (June 13, 2014). "My Dad, the Famous Painter?". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  2. "Elise Ford". Cincinnati Art Galleries, LLC. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  3. Kelly, John (December 28, 2013). "Can you help fill in the missing provenance of a railroad safety painting from the 1930s?". Washington Post. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  4. "Elise Ford Portrait". Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  5. Baskind, Samantha (Spring 2012). "Allegory versus Authenticity". Winterthur Portfolio. 46 (1): 70. doi:10.1086/665046. ISSN 0084-0416. JSTOR 10.1086/665046. S2CID 154539104.
  6. Head, James Philip (2016). An Affair with Beauty - The Mystique of Howard Chandler Christy: The Magic of Youth, Volume 1. Hillcrest Publishing Group. p. 223. ISBN 9781634138826.
  7. Arnet, Danielle (November 11, 2016). "Howard Chandler Christy original artwork exceeds presale auction estimate". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  8. "City Gets Poster for Liberty Rally". New York Times. May 4, 1941. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  9. "Birthday Poster Girl Praised by Christy". Pampa Daily News. January 24, 1935.
  10. "Series VI. Photographic Material: ca. 1873-1952 – Howard Chandler Christy Papers, 1873-2001". Special Collections & College Archives - Skillman Library, Lafayette College. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  11. "Christy again paints poster". The Index-Journal. January 3, 1936.
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