Art critic, college professor, columnist, lecturer
Elise Traunstein Grilli (August 4, 1906 – November 13, 1969),[1] bornElsa Traunstein, was an American art critic, professor, columnist, and lecturer based in Japan from 1947 to 1969.
Traunstein was born in Austria, and raised in the New Jersey, the daughter of Herman Traunstein.[2] She graduated fromBarnard College in 1929,[3] and completed a master's degree atColumbia University in 1932. In college she was assistant editor of theBarnard Bulletin, and won an essay contest sponsored by theCollege Art Association.[4] She also studied at theSorbonne in Paris.[5]
Grilli moved to Japan with her family afterWorld War II, when her husband worked with the Allied Occupation Forces in Tokyo.[6][7] She was a professor of art atSophia University, and wrote art reviews forThe Japan Times, an English-language daily newspaper.[8][9] She lectured and organized lectures on art for the International Art Society in Tokyo.[5]
In 1964 Grilli was a visiting lecturer in East Asian art atEarlham College in Indiana,[10] and organized an exhibit of her own collection of Japanese art at the campus.[11] In 1965 and 1966 she made a lecture tour in Europe and the Middle East.[12] She lectured about art in Hawaii in 1966.[13] She also taught at UCLA.[7][13]
Traunstein married Italian-born music critic Marcel F. Grilli. They had two children, Peter[25] and Diana.[26] She died from a liver disease in Los Angeles, in 1969, at the age of 63.[7][27]
