Elise J. Blattner

Elise Jecko was born on or about May 13, 1854, in St. Louis, Missouri.[2][3][4] to Joseph Jecko of Alsace and Clara Heimbach of Koblenz.[5]

She won a university scholarship through her record in high school but did not accept it.[1][2]

She had a daughter, Clara Blattner, born in St. Louis on October 15, 1877.[6] Clara graduated from Wellesley College.[2]

At the age of 25, Elise J. Blattner was married to John Forsting on April 15, 1879, in St. Louis.[7] She was later married to Henry Blattner,[5] who died about 1922.[1] They were still married in 1909.[8]

She was fluent in Japanese and German.[9]

In 1913, she was living at 2914A Arkansas Avenue, St. Louis.[10] In 1917, she and her daughter were living at the same address. She listed her occupation as "lecturer."[11] She died of uremia and chronic nephritis at Barnes Hospital on June 8, 1926,[5] after an eight-week illness. She was survived by her daughter.[1] Her body was cremated on June 10, 1926.[5]

Henry Blattner, her husband, was a skilled amateur photographer who assisted in making the lantern slides for her lectures. "She was the first person to use lantern illustrations for art lectures west of the Alleghenies."[2]

In 1889 she made her first trip to Europe, spending a year at the University of Berlin and returning with about two thousand photographs of art objects.[1] In Berlin, she studied with Professor Hermann Grimm and, she said, "succeeded in overcoming Professor Grimm's objection to the lantern and persuaded him to have a fine one installed" in the university.[2]

She spent many years after 1896 in travel, and in May 1906, she and her daughter, Clara, began a five years' residence in Japan.[1][8]

In 1912, she and Clara returned to the United States aboard the SS Nippon Maru, sailing from Yokohama.[12][13]

Clara was also a lecturer, demonstrating the No dance, flower arranging, the tea ceremony, bonsedi, or sand pictures and kōdō, an incense game.[14]

Mrs. Charles P. Johnson, her biographer, said of her lectures that "her manner of delivery is the most polished imaginable; her voice is pleasing, resonant, and clear."[2]