Elise Cavanna
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Elise Cavanna (January 30, 1902 - May 12, 1963) was an American film actress, stage comedian, dancer, and lithograph artist from Pennsylvania. Her given name was Elise Seeds.
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[edit] Dancer
Elise went to the Pennsylvania Academy and studied dancing with Isadora Duncan in Berlin, Germany. She gave dance recitals in New York City until she began to dislike it. Then she became a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies.
[edit] Comedian In Silents
Cavanna was a lanky comedian with Weber and Fields before she entered motion pictures in 1926. Her first film was Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926) with Louise Brooks and Evelyn Brent. Next she performed as an early morning customer with Brooks and W.C. Fields in It's The Old Army Game (1926). Elise remained in films until the late 1930s, compiling more than twenty screen credits. Her final movie was I Met My Love Again (1938), in which she played Agatha.
[edit] Post-Surrealist Artist
In September 1933 Miss Cavanna presented six abstract lithographs at a showing at Stendhals in Los Angeles, California. A newspaper review commented on the cool precision of her lines and spots of tone. The art was best appreciated through the mind's eye rather than the eye itself.
Elise's art was shown in October 1949 as part of the contemporary section in the California Centennials Exhibition of Art at the Los Angeles County Museum, Exposition Park. Oils, water colors, and prints from 20th century artists were presented along with a historical section, which assembled early art. It displayed life in California from 1800 through 1870.
The Los Angeles Art Association exhibited Cavanna's work in a 1954 showing at 2425 Wilshire Boulevard. Along with Stephen Longstreet, Helen Lundeberg, and Lorser Feitelman, the four artists whose work was shown were known collectively as Functionists West. By then the former actress signed her name simply, Elise. Miss Cavanna and Feitelson showed only nonobjective paintings, though both worked in representational modes. Both artists were similar in using only flat-colored, near geometrical forms, which either opposed or complemented each other. Elise was one of the first nonobjective painters in southern California. Each one of her pictures was brightly-colored, filled with energy, and could be viewed as a separate portion of a frieze. Feitelman and Lundeberg wrote a manifesto in 1934, describing their art as post-surrealism. Their desire was to use art to communicate the connection between the conceptual and the perceptual.
[edit] Author
In 1961 Elise co-authored a book with James Welton entitled Gourmet Cookery For A Low Fat Diet. The volume contained 200 mouth-watering recipes for making fatless meals.
Elise Cavanna died in Hollywood, California of cancer in 1963. She was 61.
[edit] References
- Doylestown, Pennsylvania Daily Intelligencer, Book Briefs, July 3, 1961, Page 1.
- Los Angeles Times, Two Pairs of Painters and Some Singles Offer Shows, September 17, 1933, Page A5.
- Los Angeles Times, Art Trends Traced at Centennials Show, October 2, 1949, Page D4.
- Los Angeles Times, Functionists' Work Hailed As Brilliant, January 17, 1954, Page E7.
