Submit a bio  

Artist Biography & Facts
Gertrude Horsford Fiske

Gertrude Horsford Fiske (1879 - 1961) was active/lived in Massachusetts, Maine.  Gertrude Fiske is known for Portrait, figure, landscape and still life painting.

A native New Englander, Gertrude Fiske was an Impressionist* figure and landscape painter and a leading woman artist of the Boston School*. She was a founding member of the Guild of Boston Artists* and Art Associations of Concord, Massachusetts and Ogunquit, Maine. She was also an Associate member of the National Academy of Design* in New York and the first woman appointed to the State Art Commission of Massachusetts.

Fiske was a "blue-blood" Bostonian as a direct ancestor of Governor William Bradford. For six years, she attended the School of Drawing and Painting of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson, and Philip Hale, and was one of only a few individuals who actually completed the Museum School's seven-year course. During the summers she painted in Ogunquit with Charles Woodbury, likely the person who had the most influence on her work. Her studios were in Weston and Boston, Massachusetts and Ogunquit, Maine, "her favored summer resort througho   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 4917 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 76 auction lots for Gertrude Horsford Fiske (of which 66 auction records sold and 0 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 1 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 3 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by Gertrude Horsford Fiske as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists Gertrude Horsford Fiske in 1 of its research Essays. Gertrude Horsford Fiske has 9 artist signature examples available in our database.

Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for Gertrude Horsford Fiske available:    Lilian Coleman Westcott Hale,  Leslie Prince Thompson,  George Loftus Noyes,  Charles Herbert Woodbury,  Max Kuehne,  Philip Leslie Hale,  Elizabeth Vaughan Okie Paxton,  Hermann Dudley Murphy,  Edmund Charles Tarbell,  Clarence Chatterton,  Denis Miller Bunker,  Charles Henry Gifford,  Francis Coates Jones,  Mabel May Woodward,  Carl Wuermer,  Laura Coombs Hills,  Frederick Mulhaupt,  William Jurian Kaula,  Charles Constantine Hoffbauer,  Harry Aiken Vincent,  George Hawley Hallowell,  Joseph Antonio Hekking,  Margaret Jordan Patterson,  Abbott Fuller Graves



Copyright © 1999-2024 askART.com and underlying auction houses. All Rights Reserved. Digital copying of these images and content strictly prohibited; violators will be subject to the law including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Facts about Gertrude Horsford Fiske

   Gertrude Horsford Fiske  Born:  1879 - Boston, Massachusetts
Died:   1961 - Weston, Massachusetts
Known for:  Portrait, figure, landscape and still life painting

Biography from the Archives of askART

A native New Englander, Gertrude Fiske was an Impressionist* figure and landscape painter and a leading woman artist of the Boston School*. She was a founding member of the Guild of Boston Artists* and Art Associations of Concord, Massachusetts and Ogunquit, Maine. She was also an Associate member of the National Academy of Design* in New York and the first woman appointed to the State Art Commission of Massachusetts.

Fiske was a "blue-blood" Bostonian as a direct ancestor of Governor William Bradford. For six years, she attended the School of Drawing and Painting of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson, and Philip Hale, and was one of only a few individuals who actually completed the Museum School's seven-year course. During the summers she painted in Ogunquit with Charles Woodbury, likely the person who had the most influence on her work. Her studios were in Weston and Boston, Massachusetts and Ogunquit, Maine, "her favored summer resort throughout her life."

Gertrude Fiske's first major public recognition came when she received a Silver Medal in 1915 at the San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exposition*, and the following year she was given her first solo show at the Guild of Boston Artists.  In 1917, the Cleveland Museum and Rhode Island School of Design* give her solo exhibitions. By the mid 1920s, she was a well-established artist, with portrait commissions being her primary source of income. She also painted many figure scenes in indoor and outdoor settings as well as landscapes, beach scenes, amusement parks and the occasional still life.  "All were painted in vibrantly colored, simplified forms and powerful, free brushstrokes that attested to her affiliation with the Boston Museum School and Charles Woodbury." (190) 

Etching* was another method she pursued, belonging both to the Chicago Society of Etchers* and the Boston Society of Etchers.

In 1962, a memorial exhibition of work by Gertrude Fiske was held at the Concord Art Association and at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine.

Source:
Ruth Pasquine, "Gertrude Horsford Fiske", Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design, 1826-1925, Editor, David Dearinger.

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx

 


Biography from Pierce Galleries

GERTRUDE H. FISKE (American, 1878-1961):

Gertrude H. Fiske was a native New Englander born in Boston April 16, 1878, the oldest of six children. She trained at the Museum School (Boston) with Edmund C. Tarbell, Philip L. Hale and Frank W. Benson (1904-1912) and with Charles H. Woodbury (summers) in Ogunquit, Maine.

Fiske was a major member of the Boston School style of painting and a founding member of the Guild of Boston Artists, a founder of the Concord Art Association and participated in the founding of the Ogunquit Art Association. She was an Associate of the National Academy of Design and a member of the National Association of Women Painters & Sculptors; Guild of Boston Artists; Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts; Concord AA; New Haven Paint & Clay Club; American Federation of Arts; Oqunquit AA; Grand Central Art Galleries of NYC; Chicago Society of Etchers; Boston Society of Etchers; National Arts Club; Cosmopolitan Club and she was the first woman to appointed to the State Art Commission of Massachusetts (1929-1930).

Fiske won silver and gold medals at the Panama-Pacific Exposition (1915); Conn. Academy of F.A. (1918; 1925); Wilmington Society of F.A (1921); National Academy of Design (1922; 1925; 1928, 1931, 1935); National Assoc. of Women Painters & Sculptors (1925, 1929); New Haven Paint & Clay Club (1925, 1929); Springfield Art League (1929, 1931); Ogunquit Art Center (1932) and more.

Fiske maintained Boston, Weston and Ogunquit art studios and was close friends with fellow artists Jane Peterson and Anne Carleton. She was given solo exhibitions at the GBA (1916); R.I. School of Design and the Cleveland Art Museum (1917); Wellesley College, GBA, Farnsworth Museum (1920); GBA (1924, 1927, 1933).

Fiske's work is represented in the Art Institute of Chicago; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Carnegie Institute; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; Nassau County Museum of Fine Art.; Baltimore Museum of Fine Art; Detroit Institute of Arts; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX.

She died on April 18, 1961. The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine gave her a retrospective exhibition in 1966 and later New York's Schoelkopf Galleries and Vose Galleries of Boston gave exhibitions in 1967; Additional exhibitions were at the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC (1975) and Robert Schoelkopf Galleries (1981).


** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at [email protected].

Share an image of the Artist: [email protected].
Top