HUGO MELVILLE FISHER

(American, 1878-1946)

NEW ENGLAND SEASCAPE

Oil on Canvas

30 x 27 Inches

Signed Lower Right, "H. Melville Fisher"

Inscribed on stretcher verso, "New England Rocky Seashore"

 

A substantial, early 20th-century coastal seascape by this Paris-trained American Modernist. Born in Brooklyn, Hugo Melville Fisher first studied with his father, the landscape painter Hugo Anton Fisher. Shortly after the turn of the century, he moved to Paris where he continued his studies under Jean-Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant, and, later, with William Bouguereau and James Whistler. Fisher became an early member of the American Art Association of Paris and exhibited with success, both in Paris with Durand-Ruel, and in London at the Royal Academy of Art. He spent over fifteen years painting and exhibiting in Europe before returning to the United States where he established a studio in New York. During the 1920's, the period to which this painting dates, he traveled frequently, focusing on plein-air seascapes of the East Coast between Boston and New York.

 

An early theorist and influential proponent of Modernism, Fisher exhibited widely and with success and was the recipient of numerous medals and juried awards including at the California State Fair (1891), Babcock Gallery NYC (1921), Ainslie Galleries NYC (1921-25) among others. He is well-listed in all relevant art reference works including Benezit and Who Was Who in American Art.

 

Reference:

Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers of the U.S.: Colonial to 2002, Bob Creps, Dealer’s Choice Books, Inc. 2002, Vol. 1, p. 456; Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 1, p. 1129; Artists in California 1786-1940, Third Edition, Edan Milton Hughes: Crocker Art Museum, Sheridan Books 2002, Vol. 1, p. 379; Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, Glen B. Opitz, Apollo Press 1983, p. 302; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 5, p. 489; Davenport’s Art Reference and Price Guide 2009/10 Edition, LTB Gordonsart, Inc. 2008, p. 875; et al.