Maritime Madams: Else Bostelmann

Else Bostelmann (1882-1961) was a German-born scientific illustrator and painter known for bringing the deep sea to life through her vivid and accurate underwater artwork. Working with naturalist William Beebe in the 1930s, she painted marine creatures based on descriptions he gave from his dives in Bermude. Her work helped the public visualize the mysterious world of the ocean’s depths for the first time.

For Further Reading:

• Into the Submarine Fairyland: How Scientific Artist Else Bostelmann Invited the Terrestrial Imagination into the Wonder-World of the Deep Sea
• Drawing the Deep Sea from a Seat on the Shore
• In the Early 20th Century, the Department of Tropical Research Was Full of Glamorous Adventure

This month, we’re talking about Maritime Madams. Whether through scientific study, aquatic exploration, or legendary prowess, they harnessed the power of the bodies of waters that cover our earth. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about maritime madams. Whether
through scientific study, aquatic exploration, or legendary prowess, these women
harness the power of the bodies of water that cover
our earth. Today we're meeting a woman who never let limitations,
societal or scientific, keep her from plunging into the unknown.

(00:28):
With her brushes and paints, she captured the ocean's most magical, monstrous,
and mysterious creatures. Let's talk about Elsa Bosselmann. Elsa Bosselman
was born in eighteen eighty two in Germany. Her early
years included education at several prestigious schools where she studied

(00:50):
classical drawing. She attended the University of Leipzig and received
a gold medal for her artistic excellence in drawing at
the Grand Ducal Academy in Weimar. She also trained under
the greats, including Russian artists Sasha Schneider and German painter
Ludwig von Hoffmann. Her skill was unmistakable. She was a
painter of detail and drama, with a talent for translating

(01:13):
the natural world onto the canvas with accuracy. And precision.
In nineteen oh nine, Elsa married American cellist Monroe Bosselmann.
The couple immigrated to the United States and had one daughter.
After becoming a mother, Elsa gave up painting. Monroe, interested
in trying his hand in farming, convinced Elsa to move

(01:34):
their family to Texas. But farming was hard, backbreaking work
and likely took a serious toll on Monroe's health. He
died in nineteen twenty at just forty years old. Left
alone with her young daughter, Elsa needed work and an
income to support their small family, but she also wanted purpose.
During her years of hiatus for making art, she developed

(01:57):
a fascination with natural history. She wanted to paint the
life forms she'd grown fond of studying, the kind that crawled, darted,
and shimmered in the corners of the natural world. When
she heard about a daring ocean expedition backed by the
National Geographic Society and led by famed explorer William Biebe,
she saw her opportunity. At almost fifty years old, Elsa

(02:18):
allegedly marched right up to the New York Zoological Society
and made her pitch. She wanted to be Bbe's expedition artist.
Biebe was impressed by her lively, accuracy and bold use
of color, which stayed true to the shapes of what
she painted. He hired her as the scientific artist for
the expedition, making Elsa an official member of the Department

(02:38):
of Tropical Research. In nineteen thirty, Elsa traveled to Bermuda
to the remote none Such Island research station. There, Bibe
and his engineer prepared to descend into the deep ocean
in something called the Bathosphere. Around steel submersible just big
enough to fit the two men, Biebe would descend into

(02:59):
the ocean depths, tethered to the ship by cable and
connected to Elsa via telephone. As he sank hundreds of
meters below the surface, Biebe would describe what he was
seeing through a small porthole in as much detail as possible.
Elsa would listen intently and sketch the strange creatures his
words evoked. When he surfaced, they would come together to
refine and perfect the details of her works in progress.

(03:22):
Talking through things like size, color, and proportions. Elsa would
get to work with her paints and capture every glowing fin,
translucent scale, and toothy jawline. Bieb provided the memory, Elsa
gave it form. She transformed his impressions into brilliant illustrations
of aquatic life. The ocean was her muse, but even

(03:43):
as she marveled at its beauty, she mourned its casualties.
When Biebe's team brought specimens up, Elsa worked quickly to
paint them before their colors faded. Under the microscope, they
revealed details too fine for the naked eye, but they
had to die to be scientifically observed, and Elsa was
saddened by this involuntary sacrifice. She once wrote, the fish

(04:04):
have made a long journey up to my table, and
far from their home in eternal night, they have found
here an unsought destiny. Instead of continuing to trade life
for science, Elsa decided she would go down below the
surface to see these creatures for herself. Wearing sneakers, a
red bathing suit, and a copper diving helmet. Weighing a

(04:26):
wopping sixteen pounds, she descended into the underwater realm. Her
hands shook as she gripped the long metal ladder. She
climbed down, down, down, until her feet hit the soft
sand of the ocean. The ocean's surface shimmered thirty feet
above her like a ceiling of light. The bottom of

(04:46):
the ocean was still and yet full of life. She
called it a submarine fairyland. Painting underwater came with its challenges.
Elsa had to do a bit of trial and error
to figure it out. First, she tried sketching on an
engraver's plate, but the water pressure made her hand too
sluggish and she couldn't bend her head without cutting off

(05:06):
her air supply. Next, she tried diving down with a
canvas tucked under her arm and paint rushes tied to
a washtub that she used as a palette for her paints.
This didn't work because in order to paint, she had
to put all of her supplies on the ocean floor
and uncomfortably kneel over them. Eventually, Elsa perfected her method
a canvas tied to a music stand that was lowered

(05:28):
down by rope from the boat, and a lead latent
pallet for her paints. With the brushes tied to the handle,
she painted what she saw in bold, simple strokes, capturing
the essential colors of her subject before resurfacing. Later, Elsa
would take those quick sketches back to her studio and
transform them into finished masterpieces. Elsa created more than three

(05:51):
hundred original illustrations of deep sea life, many including species
never before observed by scientists. Her work appeared a national
geographic museums and scientific journals. It educated the curious, enticed
new generations of explorers, and paid for her daughter's education.
Elsa Bosselman died in December of nineteen sixty one. She

(06:13):
never got the same spotlight William Biebe did, but he
knew that without Elsa his vision of the deep sea
wouldn't have had the same impact. The strange, dark and
dreamlike submarine fairyland became vivid under her brush. She showed
us flying snails and saber toothed fish, coral cathedrals, and
bioluminescent creatures, and helped us imagine the ocean not as emptiness,

(06:36):
but as a living, breathing world. All month, we're talking
about Maritime Madams. For more information, find us on Facebook
and Instagram at Wamanica podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,
my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow