ELSE B. IN THE SEA

An artist’s remarkable work brought undersea life to wide public notice.

German immigrant and artist Else Bostelmann (1882-1961) painted life under the ocean while working for renowned marine scientist William Beebe; while taking part in expeditions for the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society) in the 1930s, he dove beneath waters off the coast of Bermuda in a bathysphere. Few had investigated the mysterious world under the seas; fewer still had painted it. Else B., as she was known, not only painted the glorious plants and bioluminescent animals found beneath the ocean but, wearing a copper helmet, took her art supplies (steel pencils, zinc plates) underwater with her to record the magical, almost unimaginable world below. The extraordinary images she produced, published in National Geographic magazine during the Depression, were well worth it. The book pays homage to some of Bostelmann’s beautiful, detailed, accurate paintings. Stacey’s conceptualizations of them, rendered in gouache, watercolor, pastel, and colored pencil, are lovely; the backmatter includes reproductions of Else’s art. The works are dazzling and convey how extraordinary undersea life is. The text isn’t quite as captivating, though readers will likely be interested in how Else fared underwater and what she discovered during her explorations. Unfortunately, some terms used in the text are neither defined nor pronounced for readers’ benefit.

A little-known female artist receives well-deserved attention.