Borsum, Marjorie Kelly

Biography

Marjorie Kelly was born in November 1904 in a part of San Diego County just east of Carlsbad known then as Rancho Agua Hedionda. She attended San Diego High School, graduating in 1921, and received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and her master of arts degree from the University of Southern California.

Between 1927 and 1929, Marjorie Kelly traveled in Europe and North Africa with Kate Frost, the two finally settling in Paris for the winter (1928-29) as tenants in the home of Mlle. Guillemin. During the Paris winter, Kelly took French lessons two or three times per week from Fernande Olivier, who had met Picasso in 1903, lived with him for many years, and whose friends and neighbors still called her "Mme. Picasso."

Kelly eventually married Adolph "Red" Borsum, a career navy dentist, and together they lived in, among other locales, American Samoa and Japan. During her life, Marjorie Kelly Borsum became an arts professor at San Diego State College and was a member of the Asian Arts Committee of the San Diego Fine Arts Society. She died in Solana Beach in May 1978.