Elsie Haddon Haynes Art

Elsie Haddon Haynes was born on the Isle of Wight, a small island on the Southern coast of England in 1881. Her father, a historian, was a professor at Cambridge. Haynes was raised in Wimbledon and received formal training in art at the Herkomer Art School in Hertfordshire, England, during 1905–06. She later studied in Brussels and Bruges before leaving Belgium to study in Paris between 1908–09. She settled in Cambridge in 1911 where she worked as an artist. During World War I, Elsie went to France where she volunteered with the YMCA, then active with programs that provided everything from basic services to entertainment to American troops on the front. It was during her service to the YMCA that she met William Haynes, an American working in the same camp. The couple married in 1919 in Le Havre, France after the cessation of the war. The newlyweds relocated to the United States, settling first in Nebraska and then permanently in Denver, Colorado. They traveled around the West and Southwest and Elsie painted in California, Arizona and South Dakota. Soon her specialty became landscapes and the Rocky Mountains was her favorite subject. One of her paintings of South Boulder Canyon was purchased as a gift for President Eisenhower, also a well-known fan of the Rockies. Haynes was active in the art community in Denver and was a charter member of the Denver Artists’ Guild, which is now the Colorado Artist’s Guild. She remained in Denver until she died in 1963.