Elmer Livingston MacRae (1875–1953) was an American visual artist known for his paintings, pastels, and sketches, and for his role as a leading member of the Cos Cob Art Colony, in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

. MacRae was one of the organizers of the influential 1913

Armory Show The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was a show organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors in 1913. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of ...

in New York; he was also instrumental in founding the American Pastel Society (serving as its first secretary-treasurer), as well as the Greenwich Society of Artists.

Biography

Elmer MacRae was born in New York City in 1875. He studied at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at American Fine Arts Society, 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists ...

of New York with

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and

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. In the summer of 1896, when he was 20 years old, he visited Cos Cob for a class in outdoor painting. While there, he fell in love with Emma Constant Holley, the daughter of the owner of the Holley House, where artists usually stayed during their summer seasons at the community. MacRae continued living in New York City and coming to Cos Cob to take classes from co-founder

. He moved to the Holley House in 1899, and married Emma on October 17, 1900. She gave birth to twin girls, Constant and Clarissa, on October 31, 1904. MacRae lived at Holley House for the duration of his career. He succeeded Twachtman as head the Cos Cob colony, and for two decades Elmer and Emma continued to run the boardinghouse, which served to host artists and writers while also serving as a studio and showcase for MacRae's works. Elmer MacRae was a committed suffragist and donated one of his paintings to support the Greenwich Equal Suffrage League. He also designed the badge for the National Junior Suffrage Corps. He died on April 2, 1953, in Cos Cob.

Artistic career

MacRae was primarily a realist painter influenced by

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and

Japonism ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...

in his early work. His wife and two daughters were frequent subjects for his works, as well as floral studies and landscapes inspired by the Cos Cob area. His floral studies in particular showcase techniques and stylistic choices popular in Japan. MacRae learned Japanese-style brushwork from Genjiro Yeto, a Japanese artist and fellow student who frequented the Cos Cob art colony. He was encouraged to pursue flowers as a subject by his wife, who was known as a talented authority on the art of flower arrangement. In 1910, MacRae joined the group of artists known as the Pastellists. In 1911, he became part of the American Association of Painters and Sculptors (AAPS), the group responsible for planning the 1913

exhibition. He served as the Association's treasurer. The modernism that came to prominence after the Armory Show made an impact on MacRae's style. By 1915, his work shows a movement away from impressionism and towards modernism, as his preferred subject of flowers became simplified, with stronger shapes and bolder colors. MacRae exhibited in New York and Connecticut throughout his career; a posthumous retrospective of his work was held at the Milch Gallery in New York City in 1959.

References

External links

Elmer Livingston MacRae papers, 1899-1958
from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

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