This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following is a poem by the artist and words from his 1956 obituary. Roar Pettersen, great nephew of the artist, submitted this biographical data in March 2004. Pettersen lives in Norway and also wrote that Berge "was a good friend with the Indians. I have a picture of him in complete Sioux dress on a post-card he sent to his brother Ordin T. Berge, who also lived for sometime in the United States. The post-card is in very good condition and dated with the stamp 02/08/1929.
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YOUTH.
Oft i meet you in life's morning,
Like a little rose in bloom,
While the summer sun was glowing
Fading out life's distant gloom.
Shall you always happy wander
With a smile to everyone,
To the mistic land just yonder
Where eternal flowers bloom?
May your heart be filled with gladness,
Sing your song of youthful praise,
Soon may life be changed to sadness
At the partings of the ways.
-- Elmer Berge, '21.
This memorial article was in a United States paper probably in the Minnesota area.
"Elmer S Berge, 63 a well known Norwegian- American contemporary
landscape and marine artist, died unexpectedly in Minneapolis March 3,
shortly after he returned from an art exhibit he had been holding in Rochester, Minn.
Mr. Berge was born in Stavanger,Norway, July6, 1892 and came to America 45 years ago. His oil paintings of Minnesota landscapes and water scenes brought him fame in American art circles. He belonged to the American Swedish Institute and
the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts.
During a visit to the Tri-Cities in 1949, he made many friends in the allied Art Association in Richland. His only relatives in America are his sister
"Mrs Karl Knutson of 4314 W. Roi Grande Ave., Kennewick, and two nephews, Palmer and Earl Knutson and one niece, Mrs. Dan Stromstad, Richland.
He is also survived by a sister and a brother in Norway.
His sister accompanied Mr. Berge on a tour of Europe last summer (1955)
Mrs. Knutson (Jenny) and her two sons attended services for her brother in Minneapolis March 6 where he was buried in the Sunset Memorial Park."
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"Elmer Berge was born July 6, 1892 on Finnoy Island, Norway. This is a large island near Stavanger. He was a United States' citizen living in the US for 45 years in the Chicago and Minneapolis area. He started his art work at age 8 in Norway. After coming to the US he attended art schools in the Chicago area (Thistle Fine Art)."
Source: Thistle Fine Art
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The following note is from: Daniel Nordquist
He is rumored to have painted in the Arrowhead (Duluth) region of Minnesota, and may have been acquainted with Roy Keister, another painter with Minnesota connections originally from the Chicago area who ended up making his reputation in the Southwest US. Berge is also rumored to have painted in the Fergus Falls, MN area (Western Minnesota) where there is a broad band of hardwood forest. Many of the paintings of his I've seen are winter landscapes with "red" or "burr" oaks in them, which retain their leaves in the wintertime.
Elmer Berge is often thought of as "Elmor" Berge, because his signature is in a modified script and thus the 'e' may be misinterpreted as an 'o'.
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