Works
Biography
Elephants Inside the Circus Tent
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."
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."
Enquire