Elizabeth L. Nachman Erlanger, painter, printmaker, and art lecturer was born to George and Ida Nachman in Baltimore, Maryland on 23 October 1889. In 1908, she graduated from the Western High School at the Academy of Music in Baltimore. She attended the Art Students League in New York and later studied under Ralph M. Pearson, Umberto Romano, Jean Liberte and Hans Hofmann. In addition to her artistic career, she served as the president of the American Society of Contemporary Artists from 1963 to 1965, and as the liaison officer between the United States Commission of the International Art Association to the United States National Commission for UNESCO between 1964 and 1968.

Erlanger was a member of and exhibited with the Audubon Artists; the American Society of Contemporary Artists (served as president, 1963-65); the Society of American Graphic Artists; the National Society of Painters in Casein (served on executive board, 1960-69); and the National Association of Women Artists (served on executive. board, 1956-63). She had twelve solo exhibitions and her work was included in the National Association of Women Artists juried exhibits in Greece, Japan, Argentina, Scotland, and France.

Erlanger received the first special citation awarded to a woman for outstanding civic achievement in the arts from Governor Rockefeller in 1966. Her work is represented in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the National Society of Painters in Casein awards an annual prize in her name.

Elizabeth L. Nachman Erlanger died in 9 April 1975 in Goshen, New York.