Elsie Whitaker Martínez
Elsie Whitaker Martínez was renowned for her beauty in youth and old age, a muse of many famed writers and artists and an associate of most people in Northern California's Bohemian community of 1906 into the 1920s. Piedmont Bohemian George Sterling called her "the Blessed Damozel."
Early life
Elsie Whitaker was born on March 1, 1890, in Manitoba, Canada, daughter of novelist and war correspondent Herman Whitaker and his wife, Margaret A. Vandecar.In 1902, she and her family moved to the hills of Piedmont, California, to the "Silk Culture House" at the end of Mountain Avenue. She went to Piedmont grammar school and spent two years Oakland [High School (Oakland, California)|Oakland High School]. She loved books and studied European history, drama, and literature. By age 16, Whitaker was a "free-spirited artist."
Elsie met painter Xavier Martínez at Coppa's Restaurant in San Francisco. Finding her a perfect subject, he sketched her and began his Elsie series. After the 1906 [San Francisco earthquake|earthquake of 1906], Martínez moved to Piedmont. Months later, he proposed to an 18-year-old Whitaker, who had already promised to marry at least four other men, all friends of her father. Choosing Martínez, she said, "I decided to pick the one who would give me the most interesting life." Martínez, at 37, was only two years younger than Elsie's father Herman Whitaker. The couple married on October 17, 1907, in San Francisco. She spent summers with Xavier while he taught classes between 1913 and 1940.
Xavier and Elise had a daughter on August 13, 1913, Micaela, who became a fine artist. Micaela studied with Victor Arnautoff and sculpture with Ralph Stackpole; she later studied stone cutting with Ruth Cravath. In 1944, she married artist Ralph DuCasse and changed her name to Micaela Martínez DuCasse.
Later life
In 1908, Elise and Xavier stayed with Perry Newberry in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, when Xavier taught classes in the California School of Arts and Crafts. She was active in work on the restoration of the Mission [San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo|Carmel Mission].In 1916, Harriet Dean, a friend of Emma Goldmans,, met Xavier and Elsie Martínez, while Dean was working at The Little Review, which was published, for a while, in San Francisco.
In 1922, Harriet Dean's mother gave a trip to Europe, to Harriet, Kai, and Elsie, and they spent a year in France.
In 1923, Elsie and Xavier Martínez separated and she moved into the house of Harriet Dean,
- https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/rohoia/ucb/text/martinezsfartists00elsirich.pdf
In 1939, Elise, Harriet, and Kai moved to Carmel. In 1941, Xavier became ill, so they took him to Carmel. He was with them for seven months before he died on January 13, 1943.
In 1962 and 1963, Elsie was interviewed extensively for the Regional Oral History Office as a part of a series on San Francisco Bay Area artistic and cultural history. The interview was undertaken at the request of James D. Hart, Professor of English, who served as faculty advisor. One of the interviewers, Franklin Dickerson Walker, interviewed Elise at her house in Carmel on the corner of 17th Avenue and El Carmelo Street. In this interview she shared her memories, papers, and scrapbooks.
In 1981, Elsie moved to San Francisco, after living for many years in Carmel.