The Elverhoj Art Colony, originally known as the ''Elverhoj Colony of Artists and Craftsmen'', was founded in 1912 in Milton-on-Hudson, New York, by Danish-American artists A. H. (Anders Hansen) Andersen and Johannes Morton. The name is an Anglization of the Danish word ''Elverhøj'' ("hill of the faries/elves"), which is the title of a fairytale by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

and of the first Danish national play ("

Elves' Hill ''Elves' Hill'' ( da, Elverhøj) is a comedy by Johan Ludvig Heiberg, with overture and incidental music by Friedrich Kuhlau (Op. 100), which is considered the first Danish national play. History ''Elves' Hill'' was commissioned by Frederik V ...

"), commissioned by

King Frederick VI Frederick VI (Danish and no, Frederik; 28 January 17683 December 1839) was King of Denmark from 13 March 1808 to 3 December 1839 and King of Norway from 13 March 1808 to 7 February 1814, making him the last king of Denmark–Norway. From 1784 ...

in 1828. Early members of the colony included painter James Scott, printmaker Ralph M. Pearson, silversmith Joseph Popelka (who later worked for John Pontus Petterson at the Petterson Studio and Cellini Craft in Chicago), and textile artists Bessie Scott and Henrietta Scott Miller (sisters of James Scott). The artists of the colony were best known for the jewelry and metalwork they produced; in addition, they offered instruction in painting, printmaking, bookbinding, weaving, jewelry, and metalwork. Many known examples of Elverhoj jewelry are stamped "ELVERHOJ". In 1914, an article in the New York Times, "ART AT HOME AND ABROAD; Elverhoi School of Decorative Art Recalls William Morris's Band of English Rebels" highlighted the work of the Elverhoj colony, linking it firmly to the designer-craftsmen ideal of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

“The simplicity of the little colony, a more rugged and primitive simplicity than obtains at Old Lyme, the presence of workshops and tools, together with studios and easels, the evidences that the builders themselves have been to a degree the handiwork of the artists, a certain keen absorption on the materials of the crafts and their relation to technical processes, recall the fearless Morris group setting their stubborn faces against Industrial England.”

Location

Founder A. H. Andersen chose to site the colony in Milton-on-Hudson, New York, perched directly above the Western Shore Railroad, on the shore of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

,. The 30-acre colony property included the 150 year old Captain Sherbourne Sears mansion and estate. The former studio of famed American landscape painter

George Inness George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was a prominent United States, American landscape painting, landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced b ...

is nearby. The colony's motto was to “live close to nature for inspiration,” and the members of the colony were housed accordingly in numerous rustic, wooden "cabin-studios" on the property. Patrons traveled to the colony from Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, New Paltz and New York City to enjoy theater performances, exhibitions, concerts, classes and lectures. Students who studied at the colony over the summers stayed in tents. Notable neighbors and Arts and Crafts practitioners included typeface designer and co-founder of ''The Village Press,'' Frederic Goudy, and papermaker Dard Hunter (who built his own paper mill at the

Gomez Mill House The Gomez Mill House is located in the Town of Newburgh, New York, USA, on Mill House Road a short distance off US 9W, just south of the Orange–Ulster county line (its mailing address is in nearby Marlboro, in the latter). Over 300 years old, i ...

). A few years after A. H. Andersen lost the Elverhoj property to foreclosure in 1934, the property was acquired by followers of the charismatic Black religious leader Father Divine. The art colony property became one of Father Divine's most active "Heavens" until it was sold in 1947. The former art colony site is now privately owned.

History

The original eight members of the colony came from the Midwest, though Andersen and Morton were Danish immigrants. Most of the original members of the colony - Andersen, Morton, Popelka, and the Scotts - left

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

to begin their colony in Milton, New York.

Education

Andersen, Popelka, Ralph M. Pearson and James Scott each studied at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. Morton graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen before leaving Denmark for Racine, Wisconsin. Morton left the Elverhoj colony in 1917 to begin a nearly 40 year career in craft restoration with the

Rambusch Decorating Company The Rambusch Decorating Company was founded in 1898 in New York, New York by Frode Rambusch, a Danish immigrant. It is based in Jersey City, New Jersey.https://rambusch.com/ In the 1920s, Rambusch was the decorator for many elaborate movie palac ...

in New York City.

Awards and recognition

The artists of the colony were exhibiting members of the Society of Arts and Crafts of Boston, The National Society of Craftsmen (NYC), and the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 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. Although artists may stu ...

. Pearson and Morton were president and vice president of the

Chicago Society of Etchers Chicago Society of Etchers was founded in January 1910, the first organization of etchers in the country. There were 20 members to start and by 1930 there were 150 members. Membership extended outside of the United States, including artists from En ...

. The colony exhibited their jewelry in Chicago - in 1912, at the O'Brien Galleries in Chicago, where they exhibited their ''Flora Americana'' jewelry collection and in 1914 in the ''Exhibition of Industrial Art'' at the

. In 1916, the Elverhoj was profiled in Gustav Stickley's

The Craftsman Craftsman may refer to: A profession *Artisan, a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative *Master craftsman, an artisan who has achieved such a standard that he may establish his own workshop and take o ...

magazine, by

Hanna Astrup Larsen Hanna Astrup Larsen (Decorah, Iowa, Decorah, 1873-Elmsford, New York, Elmsford, 1945) was a Norwegian-American writer, literary editor, and translator. Larsen is best known from her editing roles with the ''American-Scandinavian Review'' (where s ...

, who affirmed the colony's expectation that members would be as well-versed in the arts as they were skilled in handcraft. Larsen described the men and women of the colony as "a group of earnest workers ..striving to develop an American school of decorative art." They applied "the fineness of Scandinavian craftsmanship" toward the colony's goal “to develop American materials and designs founded on American flora.” That same year, the colony earned a gold medal for their silver and jewelry at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. The Elverhoj Colony was one of three Arts and Crafts movement colonies visited by English Arts & Crafts luminary

Charles Robert Ashbee Charles Robert Ashbee (17 May 1863 – 23 May 1942) was an English architect and designer who was a prime mover of the Arts and Crafts movement, which took its craft ethic from the works of John Ruskin and its co-operative structure from the soc ...

when he traveled to America in 1915 (the others were

Byrdcliffe Colony The Byrdcliffe Colony, also called the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony or Byrdcliffe Historic District, was founded in 1902 near Woodstock, New York by Jane Byrd McCall and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and colleagues, Bolton Brown (artist) and Hervey White ...

in Woodstock, New York and Rose Valley near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).

Associated artists

Bookbinder Sterling Lord, who went on to co-found The Oakwood Binders (of Pittsfield, Massachusetts), was also affiliated with the colony during its early years. Other associated artists include

Pauline Fjelde Pauline Gerhardine Fjelde (May 1861 – December 23, 1923) was a Norwegian-born American painter, embroiderer, and textile artist. Background Pauline Gerhardine Fjelde was born in Ålesund, Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. She and her family immi ...

(who taught tapestry weaving during the early years of the colony's annual summer school), David Ericson (an instructor of painting), and metalsmith Clyde P. Miller (who married member Henrietta Scott in 1925 a few years after joining the colony). Members of the Elverhoj colony created metal frames for a collection of Danish artist Johan Waldemar de Rehling Quistgaard's miniature paintings, exhibited in 1915 at Vassar College's Taylor Hall and at the Hatch Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Poughkeepsie and Vassar College

The Elverhoj Colony benefitted from the patronage of Vassar students and faculty. Early Vassar patrons of the colony included President

Henry Noble MacCracken Henry Noble MacCracken (November 19, 1880 – May 7, 1970) was an American academic administrator who was the fifth president of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, serving from 1915 to 1946 as the first secular president of the college. Ma ...

, art historian and professor Oliver Samuel Tonks, and history professor

Lucy Maynard Salmon Lucy Maynard Salmon (July 27, 1853 – February 14, 1927) was an American historian. She was a professor of history at Vassar College from 1889 until her death. She was the first woman to be a member of the executive committee of the American His ...

. Vassar students routinely visited the colony in Milton and studied with the colony artists. The Vassar Athletics Association even reserved a cabin at the Elverhoj colony for use by Vassar students. The Peacock Shop in Poughkeepsie exhibited and sold Elverhoj crafts; when it closed, A. H. Andersen opened The Elverhoj Art Shop on Cannon Street. A. H. Andersen and the members of the colony designed and sold class rings to the students of Vassar College. A collection of Ralph M. Pearson's bookplates was acquired by

Adelaide Underhill Adelaide Underhill (1860- April 24, 1936) was an American librarian. She was hired to catalog and update the organization of volumes in the Vassar College library. She used the Dewey Decimal Classification, Dewey Decimal System and, along with he ...

for the Vassar College Library. Colony members, sisters Bessie and Henrietta Scott studied and taught tapestry and art weaving at the Elverhoj Colony. Both sisters later went on to run the arts and crafts studios in Vassar College's Blodgett Hall from 1929-1941.

Elverhoj Theater

In the mid-1920s, as the arts and crafts movement had waned, the colony began to turn its focus toward theater. The Elverhoj Theater drew Broadway performers and at the end of that decade, the colony expanded by adding a Moorish-style dining terrace to the original Sears building.

Foreclosure, bankruptcy and public auction

While several factors contributed to the demise of the Elverhoj Colony, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

dealt the final blow. In 1934, a Poughkeepsie bank initiated foreclosure proceedings against Andersen's mortgage. Soon after, Andersen declared bankruptcy and finally, in late September 1937, the public auction of "the contents of the Studio and Gift Shop and the Museum, formerly known as The Elverhoj Art Collection, on the premises at Milton, N. Y.” was held. By November 1937, speculation that followers of Father Divine were purchasing the former Elverhoj property appeared in local newspapers. The property was acquired by followers of Father Divine in 1938. Colony founder A. H. Andersen died in October 1944.

External links

Historic postcard
featuring Elverhoj Art Colony. * Bonhams Auction
Gem-Set Pendant Necklace
by A.H. Anderson for the Elverhoj Colony. * The Project Gutenberg eBook of

by William H. Varnum". ''www.gutenberg.org''. (contains jewelry designs by the Elverhoj Colony). * Ralph M. Pearson
invitation to exhibition of work
by The Elverhoj Colony of Artists and Craftsmen.

References

{{Authority control Artist colonies 1912 establishments in New York (state) Hudson Valley Arts and Crafts movement Arts and Crafts movement artists Crafts educators Ulster County, New York Hudson Valley portal