A scholar of the work of Auguste Rodin, Elsen was the Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University.
[1] Born in New York City to Albert Sr. and Julia Louise Huseman, Elsen served as a sergeant major in the United States Army during the World War II European Theater of Operations from 1945 to 1946.
[3] Elsen wrote a doctoral dissertation on The Gates of Hell of the sculptor Auguste Rodin, under the supervision of Meyer Schapiro.
However, Elsen also focused on abstract expressionism by studying the work of such artists as Bruce Beasley, Paul Jenkins, Seymour Lipton, and Henri Matisse.
[7] Following his death, Stanford installed and dedicated the outdoor sculpture titled Column I by James Rosati to Elsen.