Olaf Brauner (1869-1947) was a portrait painter, occasional sculptor, and first professor of art at Cornell University.
Olaf Martinus Brauner
February 9, 1869 — January 3, 1947
After fifty-two years of association with Cornell University, Olaf Martinus Brauner died at his home in Ithaca on January 3, 1947. He had served the University and the community as teacher and as artist all his mature life.
Professor Brauner was born in Christiana, Norway on February 9, 1869. He came to this country with his parents when he was fourteen years old. He received his art training in the Massachusetts Normal Art School and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shortly after finishing that training received his first appointment in Cornell University as Instructor of Industrial Art in the Sibley College of Engineering. He was soon promoted to Assistant Professor of Drawing and Painting and received the rank of Professor of Drawing and Painting in 1909.
During the entire period of his association with the College of Architecture, beginning in 1896, he served as head of the Department of the Fine Arts. He retired from active duty in 1939 and received the title of Professor Emeritus.At different times he taught each course given in the Department, sculpture as well as drawing and painting. For
over four decades every student of the College of Architecture came under his tutelage.
From the first, and even during those years when his teaching schedule was excessively heavy, Professor Brauner
unceasingly pursued his professional creative work. He early established himself in the American art world as a
landscape and portrait painter of distinction. Cornell University and Ithaca are rich in the series of portraits he
painted during his long career. His productivity continued beyond his retirement until illness made further work impossible.
He was represented in the major national exhibitions for many years and was commissioned to do many portraits
of prominent men in America and abroad.
Through his personal associations, he brought the work of many outstanding artists to Ithaca for exhibition. The
one which he arranged here for the American Impressionist, Childe Hassam, was the most comprehensive ever
held of that artist’s work. These exhibitions in Cornell University were possible only because of Professor Brauner’s
devotion to his art and his untiring efforts to extend its influence.
Olaf Brauner’s most important contribution, however, is not revealed or defined by the cataloging of his individual
works or the listing of his professional services to the University. It was the status he achieved and the great
monument erected for him by the affection and respect that he earned from all who knew him and who studied under him. For them his memory inevitably includes the many lovable personal and admirable professional qualities that endeared him to all, his breadth of view and his tolerance for diverse approaches, his respect for and encouragement of talent wherever it appeared, his transparent honesty in all matters, and his insistence on the highest standards.
W. K. Stone, O. D. Von Engeln, K. L. Washburn
Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement
BRAUNER, Olaf Martinius, artist; b. at Christiania, Norway, Feb. 9, 1869; s. Julius F. and Andrea M. (Holter) B.: grad. Mass. Normal Art Sch., Boston, 1892, Sch. of Drawing and Painting, Mus. Fine Arts, Boston, 1895; m. Nikoline B. Berntsen, of Boston, June. 26, 1895. Has exhibited Pa. Acad, Fine Arts, Worcester Acad. Fine Arts, Boston Art Club, is phila. Art Club, Cincinnati Art Mus., St. Louis Mus., Detroit Mus., , Corcoran, Gallery, Nat. Acad. Design, Internat. Exhbn. Am. Numismat; ic Soc. Internat. Exhbn, of Ghent; has painted portraits of a number of prominent persons: prof. painting, Cornell U., 1900—. Hon. Imem. Central N.Y. Chapter I.A.A.; mem. Gargoyle Soc. Republican. Congregationalist. Clubs: Cornell University (New York), Ithaca Country. Rep. by works in Amherst Coll., Cornell U., Kimball Library, Vt., and other schs. and in stns. ; by a large altar picture in the Luth. Ch. of Our Saviour, Chicago; designed Gindell memorial medal for the Čhicago Architectural Club, and the Clifton B. Brown memorial med al for the Coll. of Architecture, Cornell, U.; also Dane memorial bronze relief, in Walnut Hill Cemetery, Boston; has modeled fountains for pvt. gardens. Home: 414 E. Buffalo St., Ithaca, N.Y.
From Who's who in America: Volume 11 John William Leonard Albert Nelson Marquis January 1, 1920
A.N. Marquis P. 338 [OCR copy]
Herbert F. Johnson Jr. ’22, who served as a trustee from 1947-72 and a presidential councilor from 1972 until his death in 1978, committed funds that allowed Cornell to build the art museum bearing his name. He chose Cornell for its strength in chemistry, an area his father deemed crucial for the future of the family company. As a student, he met his future wife, Gertrude, the daughter of Olaf Brauner, a Cornell professor from 1896 to 1939 and founder of the university’s Department of Art.
Information from Cornell University
The painter, Olaf M. Brauner, is head of the Department of Fine Arts at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and has had several exhibitions in New York City. He has won many prizes. His father was a wood engraver. Brauner was born in Oslo, but was educated in America.
Published in "Norwegians in New York, 1825-1925,In the World of Art Chapter 20 by A. N. Rygg, LL.D
"...Olaf Brauner, known for his portraits of the Herbert Pratt family, Irene Castle and many others, is at the head of the department of painting and fine arts at Cornell. They tell me that perhaps twenty years ago he decided he would like to paint a group of his wife and children. But he wished to paint them in a certain manner, at a definite time in spring when the lower sun, entering a window of his house gave him an effect of horizontal lighting. He started the picture in a spring when sunny days at Ithaca happened to be few. Before he could complete the work, the light changed with the season.
The next spring he brought out the canvas to finish what he had begun: but how could he finish it? The children had grown. The passing of a year had changed them. The picture must be changed, painted over. And again the bright days were too few. New springs came and went: the children kept on growing always it was the same. . Always the painter had to change his picture: never would time stand still long enough for him to complete it. Finally his wife died. He showed the picture at some exhibitions. It was labeled 'Brauner family. Uncompleted.'
Years passed, a lot of them. The children were grown. Then, toward the Autumn of his life, Olaf Brauner married again. He has had, they tell me, two more fine children. In them, he must see his youth renewed. More famous now, perhaps a surer workman, will he some morning, when the light is right, start another painting and find enough bright days to complete it? Perhaps. .... Summer wanes; winter comes but somewhere always is another spring."
Extracted from "Lights of New York" by Walter Trumbull published on Wednesday, 27 May 1931 in the Evening Tribune (San Diego, Calif.) pg 4
Olaf Martinus Brauner
February 9, 1869 — January 3, 1947
After fifty-two years of association with Cornell University, Olaf Martinus Brauner died at his home in Ithaca on January 3, 1947. He had served the University and the community as teacher and as artist all his mature life.
Professor Brauner was born in Christiana, Norway on February 9, 1869. He came to this country with his parents when he was fourteen years old. He received his art training in the Massachusetts Normal Art School and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shortly after finishing that training received his first appointment in Cornell University as Instructor of Industrial Art in the Sibley College of Engineering. He was soon promoted to Assistant Professor of Drawing and Painting and received the rank of Professor of Drawing and Painting in 1909.
During the entire period of his association with the College of Architecture, beginning in 1896, he served as head of the Department of the Fine Arts. He retired from active duty in 1939 and received the title of Professor Emeritus.At different times he taught each course given in the Department, sculpture as well as drawing and painting. For
over four decades every student of the College of Architecture came under his tutelage.
From the first, and even during those years when his teaching schedule was excessively heavy, Professor Brauner
unceasingly pursued his professional creative work. He early established himself in the American art world as a
landscape and portrait painter of distinction. Cornell University and Ithaca are rich in the series of portraits he
painted during his long career. His productivity continued beyond his retirement until illness made further work impossible.
He was represented in the major national exhibitions for many years and was commissioned to do many portraits
of prominent men in America and abroad.
Through his personal associations, he brought the work of many outstanding artists to Ithaca for exhibition. The
one which he arranged here for the American Impressionist, Childe Hassam, was the most comprehensive ever
held of that artist’s work. These exhibitions in Cornell University were possible only because of Professor Brauner’s
devotion to his art and his untiring efforts to extend its influence.
Olaf Brauner’s most important contribution, however, is not revealed or defined by the cataloging of his individual
works or the listing of his professional services to the University. It was the status he achieved and the great
monument erected for him by the affection and respect that he earned from all who knew him and who studied under him. For them his memory inevitably includes the many lovable personal and admirable professional qualities that endeared him to all, his breadth of view and his tolerance for diverse approaches, his respect for and encouragement of talent wherever it appeared, his transparent honesty in all matters, and his insistence on the highest standards.
W. K. Stone, O. D. Von Engeln, K. L. Washburn
Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement
BRAUNER, Olaf Martinius, artist; b. at Christiania, Norway, Feb. 9, 1869; s. Julius F. and Andrea M. (Holter) B.: grad. Mass. Normal Art Sch., Boston, 1892, Sch. of Drawing and Painting, Mus. Fine Arts, Boston, 1895; m. Nikoline B. Berntsen, of Boston, June. 26, 1895. Has exhibited Pa. Acad, Fine Arts, Worcester Acad. Fine Arts, Boston Art Club, is phila. Art Club, Cincinnati Art Mus., St. Louis Mus., Detroit Mus., , Corcoran, Gallery, Nat. Acad. Design, Internat. Exhbn. Am. Numismat; ic Soc. Internat. Exhbn, of Ghent; has painted portraits of a number of prominent persons: prof. painting, Cornell U., 1900—. Hon. Imem. Central N.Y. Chapter I.A.A.; mem. Gargoyle Soc. Republican. Congregationalist. Clubs: Cornell University (New York), Ithaca Country. Rep. by works in Amherst Coll., Cornell U., Kimball Library, Vt., and other schs. and in stns. ; by a large altar picture in the Luth. Ch. of Our Saviour, Chicago; designed Gindell memorial medal for the Čhicago Architectural Club, and the Clifton B. Brown memorial med al for the Coll. of Architecture, Cornell, U.; also Dane memorial bronze relief, in Walnut Hill Cemetery, Boston; has modeled fountains for pvt. gardens. Home: 414 E. Buffalo St., Ithaca, N.Y.
From Who's who in America: Volume 11 John William Leonard Albert Nelson Marquis January 1, 1920
A.N. Marquis P. 338 [OCR copy]
Herbert F. Johnson Jr. ’22, who served as a trustee from 1947-72 and a presidential councilor from 1972 until his death in 1978, committed funds that allowed Cornell to build the art museum bearing his name. He chose Cornell for its strength in chemistry, an area his father deemed crucial for the future of the family company. As a student, he met his future wife, Gertrude, the daughter of Olaf Brauner, a Cornell professor from 1896 to 1939 and founder of the university’s Department of Art.
Information from Cornell University
The painter, Olaf M. Brauner, is head of the Department of Fine Arts at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and has had several exhibitions in New York City. He has won many prizes. His father was a wood engraver. Brauner was born in Oslo, but was educated in America.
Published in "Norwegians in New York, 1825-1925,In the World of Art Chapter 20 by A. N. Rygg, LL.D
"...Olaf Brauner, known for his portraits of the Herbert Pratt family, Irene Castle and many others, is at the head of the department of painting and fine arts at Cornell. They tell me that perhaps twenty years ago he decided he would like to paint a group of his wife and children. But he wished to paint them in a certain manner, at a definite time in spring when the lower sun, entering a window of his house gave him an effect of horizontal lighting. He started the picture in a spring when sunny days at Ithaca happened to be few. Before he could complete the work, the light changed with the season.
The next spring he brought out the canvas to finish what he had begun: but how could he finish it? The children had grown. The passing of a year had changed them. The picture must be changed, painted over. And again the bright days were too few. New springs came and went: the children kept on growing always it was the same. . Always the painter had to change his picture: never would time stand still long enough for him to complete it. Finally his wife died. He showed the picture at some exhibitions. It was labeled 'Brauner family. Uncompleted.'
Years passed, a lot of them. The children were grown. Then, toward the Autumn of his life, Olaf Brauner married again. He has had, they tell me, two more fine children. In them, he must see his youth renewed. More famous now, perhaps a surer workman, will he some morning, when the light is right, start another painting and find enough bright days to complete it? Perhaps. .... Summer wanes; winter comes but somewhere always is another spring."
Extracted from "Lights of New York" by Walter Trumbull published on Wednesday, 27 May 1931 in the Evening Tribune (San Diego, Calif.) pg 4
Olaf Brauner (1869-1947) was a portrait painter, occasional sculptor, and first professor of art at Cornell University.
Olaf Martinus Brauner
February 9, 1869 — January 3, 1947
After fifty-two years of association with Cornell University, Olaf Martinus Brauner died at his home in Ithaca on January 3, 1947. He had served the University and the community as teacher and as artist all his mature life.
Professor Brauner was born in Christiana, Norway on February 9, 1869. He came to this country with his parents when he was fourteen years old. He received his art training in the Massachusetts Normal Art School and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shortly after finishing that training received his first appointment in Cornell University as Instructor of Industrial Art in the Sibley College of Engineering. He was soon promoted to Assistant Professor of Drawing and Painting and received the rank of Professor of Drawing and Painting in 1909.
During the entire period of his association with the College of Architecture, beginning in 1896, he served as head of the Department of the Fine Arts. He retired from active duty in 1939 and received the title of Professor Emeritus.At different times he taught each course given in the Department, sculpture as well as drawing and painting. For
over four decades every student of the College of Architecture came under his tutelage.
From the first, and even during those years when his teaching schedule was excessively heavy, Professor Brauner
unceasingly pursued his professional creative work. He early established himself in the American art world as a
landscape and portrait painter of distinction. Cornell University and Ithaca are rich in the series of portraits he
painted during his long career. His productivity continued beyond his retirement until illness made further work impossible.
He was represented in the major national exhibitions for many years and was commissioned to do many portraits
of prominent men in America and abroad.
Through his personal associations, he brought the work of many outstanding artists to Ithaca for exhibition. The
one which he arranged here for the American Impressionist, Childe Hassam, was the most comprehensive ever
held of that artist’s work. These exhibitions in Cornell University were possible only because of Professor Brauner’s
devotion to his art and his untiring efforts to extend its influence.
Olaf Brauner’s most important contribution, however, is not revealed or defined by the cataloging of his individual
works or the listing of his professional services to the University. It was the status he achieved and the great
monument erected for him by the affection and respect that he earned from all who knew him and who studied under him. For them his memory inevitably includes the many lovable personal and admirable professional qualities that endeared him to all, his breadth of view and his tolerance for diverse approaches, his respect for and encouragement of talent wherever it appeared, his transparent honesty in all matters, and his insistence on the highest standards.
W. K. Stone, O. D. Von Engeln, K. L. Washburn
Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement
BRAUNER, Olaf Martinius, artist; b. at Christiania, Norway, Feb. 9, 1869; s. Julius F. and Andrea M. (Holter) B.: grad. Mass. Normal Art Sch., Boston, 1892, Sch. of Drawing and Painting, Mus. Fine Arts, Boston, 1895; m. Nikoline B. Berntsen, of Boston, June. 26, 1895. Has exhibited Pa. Acad, Fine Arts, Worcester Acad. Fine Arts, Boston Art Club, is phila. Art Club, Cincinnati Art Mus., St. Louis Mus., Detroit Mus., , Corcoran, Gallery, Nat. Acad. Design, Internat. Exhbn. Am. Numismat; ic Soc. Internat. Exhbn, of Ghent; has painted portraits of a number of prominent persons: prof. painting, Cornell U., 1900—. Hon. Imem. Central N.Y. Chapter I.A.A.; mem. Gargoyle Soc. Republican. Congregationalist. Clubs: Cornell University (New York), Ithaca Country. Rep. by works in Amherst Coll., Cornell U., Kimball Library, Vt., and other schs. and in stns. ; by a large altar picture in the Luth. Ch. of Our Saviour, Chicago; designed Gindell memorial medal for the Čhicago Architectural Club, and the Clifton B. Brown memorial med al for the Coll. of Architecture, Cornell, U.; also Dane memorial bronze relief, in Walnut Hill Cemetery, Boston; has modeled fountains for pvt. gardens. Home: 414 E. Buffalo St., Ithaca, N.Y.
From Who's who in America: Volume 11 John William Leonard Albert Nelson Marquis January 1, 1920
A.N. Marquis P. 338 [OCR copy]
Herbert F. Johnson Jr. ’22, who served as a trustee from 1947-72 and a presidential councilor from 1972 until his death in 1978, committed funds that allowed Cornell to build the art museum bearing his name. He chose Cornell for its strength in chemistry, an area his father deemed crucial for the future of the family company. As a student, he met his future wife, Gertrude, the daughter of Olaf Brauner, a Cornell professor from 1896 to 1939 and founder of the university’s Department of Art.
Information from Cornell University
The painter, Olaf M. Brauner, is head of the Department of Fine Arts at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and has had several exhibitions in New York City. He has won many prizes. His father was a wood engraver. Brauner was born in Oslo, but was educated in America.
Published in "Norwegians in New York, 1825-1925,In the World of Art Chapter 20 by A. N. Rygg, LL.D
"...Olaf Brauner, known for his portraits of the Herbert Pratt family, Irene Castle and many others, is at the head of the department of painting and fine arts at Cornell. They tell me that perhaps twenty years ago he decided he would like to paint a group of his wife and children. But he wished to paint them in a certain manner, at a definite time in spring when the lower sun, entering a window of his house gave him an effect of horizontal lighting. He started the picture in a spring when sunny days at Ithaca happened to be few. Before he could complete the work, the light changed with the season.
The next spring he brought out the canvas to finish what he had begun: but how could he finish it? The children had grown. The passing of a year had changed them. The picture must be changed, painted over. And again the bright days were too few. New springs came and went: the children kept on growing always it was the same. . Always the painter had to change his picture: never would time stand still long enough for him to complete it. Finally his wife died. He showed the picture at some exhibitions. It was labeled 'Brauner family. Uncompleted.'
Years passed, a lot of them. The children were grown. Then, toward the Autumn of his life, Olaf Brauner married again. He has had, they tell me, two more fine children. In them, he must see his youth renewed. More famous now, perhaps a surer workman, will he some morning, when the light is right, start another painting and find enough bright days to complete it? Perhaps. .... Summer wanes; winter comes but somewhere always is another spring."
Extracted from "Lights of New York" by Walter Trumbull published on Wednesday, 27 May 1931 in the Evening Tribune (San Diego, Calif.) pg 4
Olaf Martinus Brauner
February 9, 1869 — January 3, 1947
After fifty-two years of association with Cornell University, Olaf Martinus Brauner died at his home in Ithaca on January 3, 1947. He had served the University and the community as teacher and as artist all his mature life.
Professor Brauner was born in Christiana, Norway on February 9, 1869. He came to this country with his parents when he was fourteen years old. He received his art training in the Massachusetts Normal Art School and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and shortly after finishing that training received his first appointment in Cornell University as Instructor of Industrial Art in the Sibley College of Engineering. He was soon promoted to Assistant Professor of Drawing and Painting and received the rank of Professor of Drawing and Painting in 1909.
During the entire period of his association with the College of Architecture, beginning in 1896, he served as head of the Department of the Fine Arts. He retired from active duty in 1939 and received the title of Professor Emeritus.At different times he taught each course given in the Department, sculpture as well as drawing and painting. For
over four decades every student of the College of Architecture came under his tutelage.
From the first, and even during those years when his teaching schedule was excessively heavy, Professor Brauner
unceasingly pursued his professional creative work. He early established himself in the American art world as a
landscape and portrait painter of distinction. Cornell University and Ithaca are rich in the series of portraits he
painted during his long career. His productivity continued beyond his retirement until illness made further work impossible.
He was represented in the major national exhibitions for many years and was commissioned to do many portraits
of prominent men in America and abroad.
Through his personal associations, he brought the work of many outstanding artists to Ithaca for exhibition. The
one which he arranged here for the American Impressionist, Childe Hassam, was the most comprehensive ever
held of that artist’s work. These exhibitions in Cornell University were possible only because of Professor Brauner’s
devotion to his art and his untiring efforts to extend its influence.
Olaf Brauner’s most important contribution, however, is not revealed or defined by the cataloging of his individual
works or the listing of his professional services to the University. It was the status he achieved and the great
monument erected for him by the affection and respect that he earned from all who knew him and who studied under him. For them his memory inevitably includes the many lovable personal and admirable professional qualities that endeared him to all, his breadth of view and his tolerance for diverse approaches, his respect for and encouragement of talent wherever it appeared, his transparent honesty in all matters, and his insistence on the highest standards.
W. K. Stone, O. D. Von Engeln, K. L. Washburn
Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement
BRAUNER, Olaf Martinius, artist; b. at Christiania, Norway, Feb. 9, 1869; s. Julius F. and Andrea M. (Holter) B.: grad. Mass. Normal Art Sch., Boston, 1892, Sch. of Drawing and Painting, Mus. Fine Arts, Boston, 1895; m. Nikoline B. Berntsen, of Boston, June. 26, 1895. Has exhibited Pa. Acad, Fine Arts, Worcester Acad. Fine Arts, Boston Art Club, is phila. Art Club, Cincinnati Art Mus., St. Louis Mus., Detroit Mus., , Corcoran, Gallery, Nat. Acad. Design, Internat. Exhbn. Am. Numismat; ic Soc. Internat. Exhbn, of Ghent; has painted portraits of a number of prominent persons: prof. painting, Cornell U., 1900—. Hon. Imem. Central N.Y. Chapter I.A.A.; mem. Gargoyle Soc. Republican. Congregationalist. Clubs: Cornell University (New York), Ithaca Country. Rep. by works in Amherst Coll., Cornell U., Kimball Library, Vt., and other schs. and in stns. ; by a large altar picture in the Luth. Ch. of Our Saviour, Chicago; designed Gindell memorial medal for the Čhicago Architectural Club, and the Clifton B. Brown memorial med al for the Coll. of Architecture, Cornell, U.; also Dane memorial bronze relief, in Walnut Hill Cemetery, Boston; has modeled fountains for pvt. gardens. Home: 414 E. Buffalo St., Ithaca, N.Y.
From Who's who in America: Volume 11 John William Leonard Albert Nelson Marquis January 1, 1920
A.N. Marquis P. 338 [OCR copy]
Herbert F. Johnson Jr. ’22, who served as a trustee from 1947-72 and a presidential councilor from 1972 until his death in 1978, committed funds that allowed Cornell to build the art museum bearing his name. He chose Cornell for its strength in chemistry, an area his father deemed crucial for the future of the family company. As a student, he met his future wife, Gertrude, the daughter of Olaf Brauner, a Cornell professor from 1896 to 1939 and founder of the university’s Department of Art.
Information from Cornell University
The painter, Olaf M. Brauner, is head of the Department of Fine Arts at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and has had several exhibitions in New York City. He has won many prizes. His father was a wood engraver. Brauner was born in Oslo, but was educated in America.
Published in "Norwegians in New York, 1825-1925,In the World of Art Chapter 20 by A. N. Rygg, LL.D
"...Olaf Brauner, known for his portraits of the Herbert Pratt family, Irene Castle and many others, is at the head of the department of painting and fine arts at Cornell. They tell me that perhaps twenty years ago he decided he would like to paint a group of his wife and children. But he wished to paint them in a certain manner, at a definite time in spring when the lower sun, entering a window of his house gave him an effect of horizontal lighting. He started the picture in a spring when sunny days at Ithaca happened to be few. Before he could complete the work, the light changed with the season.
The next spring he brought out the canvas to finish what he had begun: but how could he finish it? The children had grown. The passing of a year had changed them. The picture must be changed, painted over. And again the bright days were too few. New springs came and went: the children kept on growing always it was the same. . Always the painter had to change his picture: never would time stand still long enough for him to complete it. Finally his wife died. He showed the picture at some exhibitions. It was labeled 'Brauner family. Uncompleted.'
Years passed, a lot of them. The children were grown. Then, toward the Autumn of his life, Olaf Brauner married again. He has had, they tell me, two more fine children. In them, he must see his youth renewed. More famous now, perhaps a surer workman, will he some morning, when the light is right, start another painting and find enough bright days to complete it? Perhaps. .... Summer wanes; winter comes but somewhere always is another spring."
Extracted from "Lights of New York" by Walter Trumbull published on Wednesday, 27 May 1931 in the Evening Tribune (San Diego, Calif.) pg 4
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