Biography

Elisabeth Keller (Monza 1891 – San Francisco, USA, 1969),  was an artist who in her career, through  national and international private commissions, painted the faces and souls of writers, poets, intellectuals, musicians, artists and historical figures who interpreted  their times while having great success with both the critics and the public. Her artistic output ranged over many techniques – with a preference for pastel – and subjects, going from portraits to landscapes and still life. As a painter Elisabetta Keller was  formed artistically under the guidance of Stefano Bersani, but was inspired especially by the examples of Moses Bianchi and Pompeo Mariani, the protagonists of Italian painting between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Stefano Bersani, whom Mariani had named as teacher for the young Keller, gave her solid technical groundings during which she deepened  her grasp of the pastel technique – for which from her beginnings she  was to receive  praises and awards. The young artist followed the events of her time and the extraordinary artistic revolutions of the 1900s with great discernment, thereby bringing her artistic research to its maturity and actively participating in the social changes of those years, devoting herself to the emancipation of women by making a firsthand contribution to the birth of Italy’s first Soroptimist club.