Alvan Fisher
Encyclopedia
Alvan Fisher was one of the United States
's pioneers in landscape painting and genre works.
, the fourth of Aaron and Lucy (Stedman) Fisher's six sons. He moved with members of his family to Dedham, Massachusetts
, around 1805 where he worked as a clerk in his brother's store. After that, he always called Dedham his home. At the age of eighteen, he determined, with the support of his family, to become a painter and began an apprenticeship with John Ritto Penniman
in Boston, Massachusetts, along with other young artists such as Charles Codman
. There he learned portrait painting while assisting Penniman in decorating carriages and painting commercial signs.
in Boston. During his first ten years as a painter, he set the tone of his entire career. He traveled extensively painting landscapes, rural scenes, portraits of animals, and portraits of people. The growing popularity of landscape and genre painting coincided with the growing population of the United States and an economically improved middle class. This was the age of democracy and people wanted art that depicted their own contemporary life. In his book, Mirror to the American Past: A Survey of American Genre Painting, 1750-1900, Herman Warner Williams, Jr., wrote, "As our first native-born painter to specialize in genre subjects and to engage a wide audience for them, Alvan Fisher is entitled to more than the slight notice that has been given him ... Only the canny Alvan Fisher was successful in turning a profit from the new themes in his paintings."
Fisher traveled throughout the northeastern United States searching out sites of landscape beauty such as the views of Springfield, Hartford, and Providence and the spectacular scenery of the White Mountains
of New Hampshire. He sketched outdoors and began to compose pastoral scenes in his studio before Thomas Cole
, Thomas Doughty
, Asher B. Durand, or others of the Hudson River School
gave serious attention to nature. The Watering Place, 1816, now in the collection of Fruitlands Museum
, Harvard, Massachusetts, is his earliest extant pure landscape. His paintings of Niagara Falls
were completed following his visit there in 1820.
His interest in depicting topographical subjects got a real jump-start when he obtained a commission to paint views of Harvard College
. These paintings were executed expressly for the purpose of issuing engraving
s for wide distribution to the public. The images of Harvard Yard were later reproduced on Stafforshire transfer-printed earthenware produced by several English companies for the American market. He was commissioned by Charles Henry Hall, owner of the Harlem Stud Farm in New York, to paint portraits of the famous American race horses of the period. He completed at least six portraits of the renowned American Eclipse between 1822 and 1823. Lithograph prints made from these paintings were used in The American Turf Register, the first magazine attempting to improve the breeding of thoroughbred
horses in America.
. In Paris he studied drawing and made copies of works by the Old Masters at the Louvre
. While in Paris, he was joined by his younger brother, John Dix Fisher
, a graduate of Harvard Medical School
who was there to study the effects of smallpox inoculations. (Dr. Fisher is noted for his work on smallpox and was a founder of Perkins School for the Blind
in Watertown, Massachusetts
.) Also while in Paris, Alvan Fisher undertook a project similar to his views of Harvard College. He had evidently met General Lafayette in 1824 when Lafayette stopped at Dedham during his triumphal tour of the United States. Fisher was granted permission to complete paintings of Chateau La Grange, Lafayette's estate outside Paris. His four views of La Grange were then drawn on lithographic
stones in France by the noted lithographer, Isadore Deroy, and brought back for printing on one of the first lithographic presses used in the United States. Portfolios of these prints were sold a souvenirs building on the popularity of General Lafayette.
in Boston where he is said to have been the first landscapist to hang out a professional sign in Boston. His friend, the landscapist Thomas Doughty
had his studio a few blocks away. In 1828, the Boston Athenaeum began to purchase paintings for exhibition and bought his Composition from Scenery in the State of New York for $350, then the highest price he had realized for a painting. During the early months of 1834, he joined with Thomas Doughty, Chester Harding
, Francis Alexander
and other local contributors in opening the Artists' Exhibition at Harding's Gallery
where he exhibited forty-three paintings of a variety of subjects - landscapes, genre scenes, portraits, and paintings of marine scenes.http://www.farnsworthmuseum.org/collections/downloads/Maine_in_America3.pdf This gave the public a unique opportunity to appreciate the breadth of his artistic talent. In 1837, The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association
(MCMA) held an arts and crafts fair. (Paul Revere
was the first president of the association.) Unlike any previous exhibition in Boston, it appealed to a broad segment of the public who filled the galleries of Faneuil
and Quincy Halls
to see the exhibits. A critic in the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette wrote, "Fisher has contributed a number of his best compositions, comprising landscapes with groups of figures, barn-yard and cattle scenes, and portraits of children. We cannot ... write a critical notice of such productions, but for variety of style, elegance of design, harmony and richness of coloring, and interesting choice of subjects, Fisher has no superior on this side of the Atlantic." His collection of works received the MCMA's gold medal. During this period, the frequent publication of his pictures as gift book
illustrations was perhaps the most important factor contributing to his growing popularity. These "gift books" were elegantly decorated and made small so as to fit comfortably in the hand. Engravings of his original paintings were used to illustrate widely circulated American annuals such as The Token
, The Garland, The Jewel, The Lily, and The Magnolia. He typified the artist who appealed to the gift book audience.
In 1840, Fisher and his wife, Lydia (Ellis) Fisher, moved from their townhouse on Beacon Hill
in Boston to a house in Dedham near where he had lived as a youth. He had accumulated significant wealth from his artistry and also from his business acumen. He and his brothers had invested in land in Maine and he had also accumulated stocks in textile mills, in copper mines and in railroads. He used this wealth to expand his estate on School Street in Dedham and to establish his studio there. This was the site where he did most of his paintings from the 1850s until his death. He continued to complete portraits as a source of income but his main love was for landscapes and marine scenes. Throughout his career he marketed his works in a variety of ways: he organized auctions to dispose of surplus stock, encouraged clients to buy on installment plans, and placed works on consignment as far away as Mississippi. Mabel Munson Swan states in her article The Unpublished Notebooks of Alvan Fisher, Antiques magazine, August, 1955, "In one of three notebooks ... is a checklist he made of more than one thousand of his paintings, with the names of the purchasers, dates of sale, and prices paid..."
on the 13th of February, 1863 and is buried in the Dedham Village Cemetery. Perhaps the greatest recognition of his skill as a landscape artist came one hundred years later when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy chose his painting,The Remnant of the Tribe, to hang in the Green Room of the White House. The Dedham Historical Society has a collection of his paintings, sketches and biographical material. His largest oil painting, Washington at Dorchester Heights, a nine-by-six foot copy of Gilbert Stuart's
painting of the same title, hangs in the Dedham Town Hall, a testimonial to the town's most illustrious painter.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
's pioneers in landscape painting and genre works.
Early years
He was born in Needham, MassachusettsNeedham, Massachusetts
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, the fourth of Aaron and Lucy (Stedman) Fisher's six sons. He moved with members of his family to Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
, around 1805 where he worked as a clerk in his brother's store. After that, he always called Dedham his home. At the age of eighteen, he determined, with the support of his family, to become a painter and began an apprenticeship with John Ritto Penniman
John Ritto Penniman
John Ritto Penniman was a painter in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He created portraits, landscapes, and allegorical paintings, as well as designs for engravings, such as the official seal of the city of Boston in 1822. He also worked as an assistant to Gilbert Stuart. Penniman died in 1841 in...
in Boston, Massachusetts, along with other young artists such as Charles Codman
Charles Codman
Charles Codman was a landscape painter of Portland, Maine. His art is featured at the Portland Museum of Art as mature, fine early American landscape painting....
. There he learned portrait painting while assisting Penniman in decorating carriages and painting commercial signs.
Career
In 1815, at the age of twenty-two, he began his professional career, opening a studio on School StreetSchool Street
School Street is a short but significant street in the center of Boston, Massachusetts. It is so named for being the site of the first public school in the United States...
in Boston. During his first ten years as a painter, he set the tone of his entire career. He traveled extensively painting landscapes, rural scenes, portraits of animals, and portraits of people. The growing popularity of landscape and genre painting coincided with the growing population of the United States and an economically improved middle class. This was the age of democracy and people wanted art that depicted their own contemporary life. In his book, Mirror to the American Past: A Survey of American Genre Painting, 1750-1900, Herman Warner Williams, Jr., wrote, "As our first native-born painter to specialize in genre subjects and to engage a wide audience for them, Alvan Fisher is entitled to more than the slight notice that has been given him ... Only the canny Alvan Fisher was successful in turning a profit from the new themes in his paintings."
Fisher traveled throughout the northeastern United States searching out sites of landscape beauty such as the views of Springfield, Hartford, and Providence and the spectacular scenery of the White Mountains
White Mountain art
White Mountain art is the body of work created during the 19th century by over four hundred artists who painted landscape scenes of the White Mountains of New Hampshire in order to promote the region and, consequently, sell their works of art....
of New Hampshire. He sketched outdoors and began to compose pastoral scenes in his studio before Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century...
, Thomas Doughty
Thomas Doughty (artist)
Thomas Doughty was an American artist of the Hudson River School.Born in Philadelphia, Thomas Doughty was the first American artist to work exclusively as a landscapist and was successful both for his skill and the fact that Americans were turning their interest to landscape...
, Asher B. Durand, or others of the Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
gave serious attention to nature. The Watering Place, 1816, now in the collection of Fruitlands Museum
Fruitlands (transcendental center)
Fruitlands was a Utopian agrarian commune established in Harvard, Massachusetts by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane in the 1840s, based on Transcendentalist principles...
, Harvard, Massachusetts, is his earliest extant pure landscape. His paintings of Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
were completed following his visit there in 1820.
His interest in depicting topographical subjects got a real jump-start when he obtained a commission to paint views of Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
. These paintings were executed expressly for the purpose of issuing engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
s for wide distribution to the public. The images of Harvard Yard were later reproduced on Stafforshire transfer-printed earthenware produced by several English companies for the American market. He was commissioned by Charles Henry Hall, owner of the Harlem Stud Farm in New York, to paint portraits of the famous American race horses of the period. He completed at least six portraits of the renowned American Eclipse between 1822 and 1823. Lithograph prints made from these paintings were used in The American Turf Register, the first magazine attempting to improve the breeding of thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horses in America.
Grand tour
In April, 1825, Fisher sailed for a tour of the great art centers of Europe. He was the first important American landscapist to make such a tour. He visited England, France, Italy and Switzerland, countries considered important for any artist's professional stature and artistic maturation. In London he visited private collections and was inspired by the composition and subject matter of landscapes by Claude LorrainClaude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French Claude Gellée, , dit le Lorrain) Claude Lorrain, , traditionally just Claude in English (also Claude Gellée, his real name, or in French...
. In Paris he studied drawing and made copies of works by the Old Masters at the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
. While in Paris, he was joined by his younger brother, John Dix Fisher
John Dix Fisher
John Dix Fisher, , physician and founder of Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, was born in Needham, Massachusetts, the youngest of the six sons of Aaron and Lucy Fisher. The Fisher family was descended from Anthony Fisher, one of the signers of the Dedham Covenant in 1636...
, a graduate of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
who was there to study the effects of smallpox inoculations. (Dr. Fisher is noted for his work on smallpox and was a founder of Perkins School for the Blind
Perkins School for the Blind
Perkins School for the Blind, located in Watertown, Massachusetts, is the oldest schools for the blind in the United States. It has also been known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind.-History:...
in Watertown, Massachusetts
Watertown, Massachusetts
The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...
.) Also while in Paris, Alvan Fisher undertook a project similar to his views of Harvard College. He had evidently met General Lafayette in 1824 when Lafayette stopped at Dedham during his triumphal tour of the United States. Fisher was granted permission to complete paintings of Chateau La Grange, Lafayette's estate outside Paris. His four views of La Grange were then drawn on lithographic
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
stones in France by the noted lithographer, Isadore Deroy, and brought back for printing on one of the first lithographic presses used in the United States. Portfolios of these prints were sold a souvenirs building on the popularity of General Lafayette.
Later years
After his return from Europe in the fall of 1826, Fisher's mature career began. He opened a studio on Washington StreetWashington Street (Boston)
Washington Street is a street originating in downtown Boston, Massachusetts that extends southwestward to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island state line. The majority of it was built as the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in the early nineteenth century...
in Boston where he is said to have been the first landscapist to hang out a professional sign in Boston. His friend, the landscapist Thomas Doughty
Thomas Doughty
Thomas Doughty may refer to:*Thomas Doughty , English explorer, d.1578*Thomas Doughty , American artist...
had his studio a few blocks away. In 1828, the Boston Athenaeum began to purchase paintings for exhibition and bought his Composition from Scenery in the State of New York for $350, then the highest price he had realized for a painting. During the early months of 1834, he joined with Thomas Doughty, Chester Harding
Chester Harding (painter)
Chester Harding was an American portrait painter.-Biography:Harding was born at Conway, Massachusetts. Brought up in the wilderness of New York state, he was a lad of robust physique, standing over 6 feet 3 inches...
, Francis Alexander
Francis Alexander
Francis Alexander was an American portrait-painter.He was born in Killingly, Connecticut. Brought up on a farm, he taught himself the use of colors, and in 1820 went to New York City and studied painting with Alexander Robertson. He spent the winters of 1831 and 1832 in Rome...
and other local contributors in opening the Artists' Exhibition at Harding's Gallery
Harding's Gallery (Boston)
Harding's Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, exhibited works by European and American artists in the 1830s-1840s. The building on School Street also housed a newspaper press; the Mercantile Library Association; the Boston Artists' Association; and artists' studios...
where he exhibited forty-three paintings of a variety of subjects - landscapes, genre scenes, portraits, and paintings of marine scenes.http://www.farnsworthmuseum.org/collections/downloads/Maine_in_America3.pdf This gave the public a unique opportunity to appreciate the breadth of his artistic talent. In 1837, The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association
Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association
The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association of Boston, Massachusetts, was "formed for the sole purposes of promoting the mechanic arts and extending the practice of benevolence." Founding members included Paul Revere, Benjamin Russell, and others...
(MCMA) held an arts and crafts fair. (Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
was the first president of the association.) Unlike any previous exhibition in Boston, it appealed to a broad segment of the public who filled the galleries of Faneuil
Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain, and is now part of...
and Quincy Halls
Quincy Market
Quincy Market is a historic building near Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was constructed 1824–1826 and named in honor of Mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt.-History:...
to see the exhibits. A critic in the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette wrote, "Fisher has contributed a number of his best compositions, comprising landscapes with groups of figures, barn-yard and cattle scenes, and portraits of children. We cannot ... write a critical notice of such productions, but for variety of style, elegance of design, harmony and richness of coloring, and interesting choice of subjects, Fisher has no superior on this side of the Atlantic." His collection of works received the MCMA's gold medal. During this period, the frequent publication of his pictures as gift book
Gift book
Gift books, literary annuals or a keepsake, were 19th century books, often lavishly decorated, which collected essays, short fiction, and poetry. They were primarily published in the autumn, in time for the holiday season and were intended to be given away rather than read by the purchaser...
illustrations was perhaps the most important factor contributing to his growing popularity. These "gift books" were elegantly decorated and made small so as to fit comfortably in the hand. Engravings of his original paintings were used to illustrate widely circulated American annuals such as The Token
The Token and Atlantic Souvenir
The Token was an annual, illustrated gift book, containing stories, poems and other light and entertaining reading. In 1833, it became The Token and Atlantic Souvenir.-History:...
, The Garland, The Jewel, The Lily, and The Magnolia. He typified the artist who appealed to the gift book audience.
In 1840, Fisher and his wife, Lydia (Ellis) Fisher, moved from their townhouse on Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts
Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, that along with the neighboring Back Bay is home to about 26,000 people. It is a neighborhood of Federal-style rowhouses and is known for its narrow, gas-lit streets and brick sidewalks...
in Boston to a house in Dedham near where he had lived as a youth. He had accumulated significant wealth from his artistry and also from his business acumen. He and his brothers had invested in land in Maine and he had also accumulated stocks in textile mills, in copper mines and in railroads. He used this wealth to expand his estate on School Street in Dedham and to establish his studio there. This was the site where he did most of his paintings from the 1850s until his death. He continued to complete portraits as a source of income but his main love was for landscapes and marine scenes. Throughout his career he marketed his works in a variety of ways: he organized auctions to dispose of surplus stock, encouraged clients to buy on installment plans, and placed works on consignment as far away as Mississippi. Mabel Munson Swan states in her article The Unpublished Notebooks of Alvan Fisher, Antiques magazine, August, 1955, "In one of three notebooks ... is a checklist he made of more than one thousand of his paintings, with the names of the purchasers, dates of sale, and prices paid..."
Death
He died at Dedham, MassachusettsDedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...
on the 13th of February, 1863 and is buried in the Dedham Village Cemetery. Perhaps the greatest recognition of his skill as a landscape artist came one hundred years later when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy chose his painting,The Remnant of the Tribe, to hang in the Green Room of the White House. The Dedham Historical Society has a collection of his paintings, sketches and biographical material. His largest oil painting, Washington at Dorchester Heights, a nine-by-six foot copy of Gilbert Stuart's
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island.Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists...
painting of the same title, hangs in the Dedham Town Hall, a testimonial to the town's most illustrious painter.