In the Garden
WILLIAM MARK FISHER, R.A.
(1841-1923)
In the Garden
Acrylic and oil on canvas
40 x 57 inches
Signed and dated 1912
Provenance:

Mark Fisher, R.A.
Margaret Fisher Prout, A.R.A.
Vincent Lines, V.P.R.W.S.
Fins Art Society, London, 1972
Private Collection, U.S.A.
Rehs Galleries, Inc., 1987
Private Collection, 1988

Exhibited:

Royal Academy, London, 1912, #113
R.W.S. Gallery, London, Mark Fisher and Margaret Fisher Prout, June 1966, #115

William Mark Fisher was born in Boston, MA in 1841.  His family was poor and he spent a good part of his childhood working.  At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to his cousin – a sign and house painter – William Lawless.  From this point on he began to study art – initially taking drawing classes (during the winter months) at the Lowell Institute.  By the age of 18 or 19 he was working as a portrait painter and he had the good fortune of meeting George Cass, a student of the American landscape artist George Inness.  Cass introduced Fisher to Inness and he too began studying under the master.  Fisher remarked that Inness found him to be “…a most promising youth and it was finally arranged I should go and stay with him as a pupil without fees.”

 

In 1863 Fisher met one of Inness’ patrons who proposed that he travel to Paris to continue his studies.  He left for Paris and entered the atelier of Gleyre where met many other artists, including Sisley.  After finishing his training he returned to Boston and continued to paint, but his work, which had a more impressionist style to it, met with little success and he finally decide to leave for Europe again.  By 1871 he was on his way, first landing in Brest and then moving on to Normandy.

In 1872 he left France and headed for England, where he would not only take up permanent residence, but also find great success.
  In Benjamin’s Contemporary Art in Europe the author remarks that:

Mark Fisher, a Boston artist, who had to leave his native land in order to find the appreciation he deserves, has won a front rank in the landscape art of his adopted country, and seems to have no superior there in the interpretation of certain aspects of nature.

Upon his arrival in England he took up residence in London, but soon found the countryside was more to his liking and moved to Sussex.
  By 1901 he was living in Hatfield Heath, where he would remain for the rest of his life.  He was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy – displaying his first work there in 1872 and continued to exhibit there until his death in 1923; showing more than 100 worksl.  Fisher was elected A.R.A. in 1911 and a full member in 1919.  Among his exhibited paintings are:

Noon (1872); Early Summer (1875); The Siesta (1877); Milking Time (1881); Early Summer – Sussex (1883); Environs of Algiers (1896); A Hampshire Village (1903); Ponds at Bexley (1906); Harlow Mill (1912); Cote d’azur (1913); White poplars: September (1915); Mont Canaille, Cassis (1917); and On the Shore at Emsworth (1921).

It is interesting to note that Fisher is considered one of the first artists to bring the Impressionist style to England and was noted by George Moore, in 1893, as being
[England’s] greatest living landscape painter.

Fisher died on April 30, 1923.

 
INDEX - A VISUAL HISTORY > <
Virtual Exhibition Index next prev
AIRY, ANNA (1882 - 1964)The Little Mirror
BARBER, CHARLES BURTON (1845 - 1894)Off to School
BOLOTOWSKY, ILYA (1907 - 1981)Abstract
BONHEUR, AUGUSTE (1824 - 1884)Ploughing in the Nivernais
BONHEUR, ROSA (1822 - 1899)Couching Lion
BOUDIN, EUGENE LOUIS (1824 - 1898)La bassin, Deauville
BOUGUEREAU, WILLIAM A. (1825 - 1905)La Frileuse
BOUGUEREAU, WILLIAM A. (1825 - 1905)Marchande de grenades (Pomegranate Seller)
CHAIGNEAU, JEAN F. (1830 - 1906)Le Jardin de l'Artiste
CHOULTSE, IVAN F. (b.1877)Nuit de Mars, Russie
CLAYS, PAUL JEAN (1819 - 1900)Shipping on the Scheldt
COALE, GRIFFITH BAILEY (1890 - 1950)The Baltimore Flower Mart - 1915
COROT, JEAN-BAPTISTE-CAMILLE (1796 - 1875)Pâturage dans les marais (Souvenir des environs d'Amiens)
CORTÈS, EDOUARD LEON (1882 - 1969)The Breton Family
DAWSON, MONTAGUE (1895 - 1973)The Pirate's Cove, Wafer Bay, Cocos Island
DIÉTERLE, MARIE (1856 - 1935)Troupeau dans un chemin creux
DRUMMOND, ARTHUR (1871 - 1951)Victorian Fantasy
DUPRÉ, JULES (1811 - 1889)Environs de Plymouth
DUPRÉ, JULIEN (1851 - 1910)La rentrée au village
DUPRE, JULIEN (1851 - 1910)Glaneuses
DUPRE, JULIEN (1851 - 1910)La Prairie
ELSLEY, ARTHUR J. (1860 - 1952)Good Night
FISHER, R.A., WILLIAM MARK (1841-1923)In the Garden
FRERE, CHARLES THEODORE (1814 - 1888)A Caravan Crossing the Desert
GIRARDET, EUGENE ALEXIS (1853 - 1907)Outside the Mosque
GIRARDET, EUGENE ALEXIS (1853 - 1907)The Wailing Wall
HERBO, LEON (1850 - 1907)La Charmeuse
ISRAELS, ISAAC (1865 - 1934)Dancing at the Moulin de la Galette
JOUBERT, LEON (fl.1883 - 1900)Un Coin de Seine a Lavacourt
KNIGHT, DANIEL RIDGWAY (1839 - 1924)A Pensive Moment
KNIGHT, DANIEL RIDGWAY (1839 - 1924)En Vendanges
LUNY, THOMAS (1759 - 1837)Engagement Between Sir George Brydges Rodney and the Spanish Squadron, Commanded by Don Juan de Langara, Near Cape St. Vincent, January 16, 1780
MARCKE DE LUMMEN, EMILE VAN (1827 - 1890)Vaches a Pâture
MOREAU, ADRIEN (1843-1906)Une Mascarade au XVII Siecle
MOSTYN, TOM (1864 - 1930)Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
MUNIER, EMILE (1840 - 1895)May I Have One Too
MUNIER, EMILE (1840 - 1895)La retour du marché
PERRAULT, LEON J.B. (1832 - 1908)Away From Home
PERRAULT, LEON J.B. (1832 - 1908)Sleeping Putto
PERUGINI , CHARLES EDWARD (1839-1918)The Green Lizard
RIGOLOT, ALBERT GABRIEL (1862 - 1932)Soleil Levant dans la Brume
ROSSI, ALEXANDER MARK (FL.1870 - 1903) May I Have This Dance?
ROSSI, ALEXANDER MARK (FL.1870 - 1903)Forbidden Books
SALMON, ROBERT (1775 - c.1845) The Estridge off Dover
SCHIELE, EGON (1890 - 1918)Semi-nude with Green Stockings from the Back
SCHRYVER, LOUIS MARIE DE (1862 - 1942)Après l’averse; - place du Théâtre-Français
SCHRYVER, LOUIS MARIE DE (1862 - 1942)A Young Man's Fancy
SEIGNAC, GUILLAUME (1870 - 1924)Reflections
SISLEY, ALFRED (1839 - 1899)La Seine à Suresnes
TOPHAM, FRANCIS W.W. (1838 - 1924)Young Girl on a Swing
WARDLE, ARTHUR (1864 – 1949)The Deer-Stealer
WILLIAMS, EDWARD CHARLES (1807 - 1881)The Old Roadside Inn