Alvan Fisher
American, 1792-1863
Watching the Boats, 1819
oil on canvas
18 x 22 in.
SBMA, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Ronald M. Lawrence
1984.50.3
Unfinished self portrait of the artist, n.d.
Of his preferences, Fisher stated “This species of painting, being novel in this part of the country, I found it a more lucrative, pleasant and distinguishing branch of art than portrait painting.”
RESEARCH PAPER
In American art, Alvan Fisher has the distinction of being the first native-born painter to specialize in genre, focusing on landscapes, scenes of rural life and portraits of animals.
Appropriately titled, the mood created by Watching the Boats is one of peaceful contemplation and enjoyment of nature. An oil on canvas done in 1819, it predates the Hudson River School and was a rare depiction at that time of the natural beauty of America. Because this nature scene also contains a human figure, dogs and boats, it has narrative content as well.
In the foreground, the small figure of a man (sketchily painted), accompanied by two dogs, leans against a rock situated on a wild promontory of land. A dead tree, diagonally placed and clearly delineated, is the closest object to the viewer. The man watches a sailboat mid-river, as well as other smaller boats and figures on the opposite shore. Low wooded foothills with mountains behind them dominate the mid-portion of the canvas.
At left another tree-covered slope rises above the river. Loosely painted trees overhanging the river are back-lit, as are luminous clouds in the sky. Warm coral light coming from an unseen light source bathes the side of the mountain, colors the sails of the boats, reflects in the river and illumines the more detailed and intricate depiction of shrubbery on the far bank. Lightly painted in a series of washes, the painting makes use of impasto only in the heavy clouds and small figures on the boat.
As befits this mood of serenity, Fisher's palette is subdued and almost tonal, consisting mainly of warm shades of gray and charcoal, mauve, grayed greens, ochre and gray blue with the use of coral, ivory and rosy tones to emphasize the time of day; it is probably sunset. The figure is somewhat awkward and the river motionless, yet the artist conveys a genuine love of nature.
Popular and quite successful in his own time, Alvan Fisher has been mainly forgotten in the 20th century. Those who have discussed his work consider his importance to be that of a progenitor of the Hudson River School, a true American pioneer in the fields of genre and landscape. As a landscape, our painting is indeed a most unusual subject for that time when portraiture was the main source of income for American artists. The absence of art galleries, the lack of art (with the exclusion of portraits) in people's homes, and a belief in the excellence of the European art tradition compelled most artists to journey to Europe for inspiration and study. Fisher as a young man of 33 did make this obligatory European pilgrimage in 1825. However, Watching the Boats was painted six years earlier and can certainly be viewed as a true expression of Fisher’s appreciation for nature and love of the wilderness little influenced by European study or by any school of art in existence in America at that time. The Romantic Movement in art and literature, which attuned men’s eyes and minds to see beauty in the New World, was certainly the prevailing philosophy by which Fisher was affected. But seeing this same landscape as worthy of commemoration on canvas was a breakthrough. His independence in selecting and executing this novel subject matter was almost immediately rewarded in a monetary fashion.
Fisher decided to become an artist at the age of 20 (1812), having had his fill of clerking in a dry goods store in Dedham, Mass. His first and only teacher was John R. Penniman, a Boston painter. Fisher has written that Penniman gave him an "ornamental touch" which took him years to shake off. Perhaps we see Penniman's influence in the rather decorative treatment of the trees across the river in our painting. At any rate, Fisher worked with Penniman for two years and then began painting portraits at a cheap rate in Boston in 1814. The next year he expanded his subject matter to include landscape and genre painting, his real contribution to the development of American art.
During these first ten years of his career, Fisher traveled extensively through New England to the White Mountains and as far north as Lake Champlain. Diaries from this time record his first attempts to derive art from the out of doors. He was a careful and accurate record keeper. Wash drawings are marked "Experiment but from Nature", "Miserable but from Nature", "Nonsense", and so on. Noting continually whether the subject was from nature or from recollection, he devoted himself completely to painting.
In 1819 Fisher advertised in the Charleston Courier: "Original Landscape Paintings from Northern Scenery." Perhaps our painting is from that group although, it is not certain. Fisher made a number of highly successful paintings of Niagara Falls in the early 1820s. His View of Providence Cove (1817) is now owned by the Rhode Island Historical Society and was reproduced by Antiques Magazine as their cover in November 1971. Two early views of Harvard (1822) which now hang in the President’s office of that University were reproduced on earthenware by Enoch Wood of Staffordshire as well as by two other manufacturers in Fisher's lifetime. It should be emphasized and noted here that Fisher did not paint his landscapes directly from nature at this time or later in his career. He made pencil sketches or watercolor washes in the field, but the actual painting was done later in his studio.
Also during this period, Fisher traveled throughout the South, advancing another new field of endeavor—animal portraiture. Paintings of racehorses and prize bulls as well as commissioned portraits were profitable enough to finance a trip to Europe for Alvan and his younger brother, an MD, in 1825.
On returning from Europe, Fisher's mature career began in 1826. He is said to have been the first landscape painter to hang out a professional sign in Boston. His great friend was Thomas Doughty, whose studio was also in Boston. Fisher married, had one child and continued to paint, exhibit and sell his paintings profitably for the remainder of his life. Between 1826 and 1860, his notebooks record sales of 1,000 paintings. His subject matter continued to be divided among four groups:
Landscapes, portraits, farm and genre that included horses, cattle, hunting, fishing, dogs and game. He was unusual in that he possessed both artistic talent and business acumen.
In Fisher's lifetime his paintings were generally well received by the critics; their popularity with the public continued until his death in I863. From then and through the first quarter of the 20th century, Fisher was largely forgotten. Tuckerman’s Book of the Artist was inaccurate in its entry and Benezit dismissed Fisher with only a few lines. Two American collectors, Clara Endicott Sears and Maxim Karolik, reawakened interest in Fisher in the 1950s. Miss Sears included a chapter about him in her book, Highlights Among the Hudson River Artists. In the "M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings" published for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Fisher's series of barnyard and stable scenes are mentioned as "broadening the scope of American painting." Otherwise, however, Fisher remains in relative obscurity, a gentle man who painted for love and profit.
Provenance:
This early American landscape painting was donated to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art by Dr. and Mrs. Ronald M. Lawrence of Malibu in 1984. Letters requesting information concerning former owners, exhibition dates and other related items have been sent to the Lawrences and to the Vose Gallery in Boston. (The Vose Gallery label is affixed to the back of the piece.) At this time no replies have been received. Thus the provenance of this particular painting remains obscure with the exception of its immediate past owner.
This oil on canvas is 18 by 22 inches. A small torn area in the upper right hand sky area has been neatly and inconspicuously repaired. Overall the condition of the painting is excellent.
Prepared for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docent Council by Eleanor H. Jacobs, March 28, 1985. Approved, 4/85
Prepared/edited for the Docent Council web site by Julie Allen and Lori Mohr, 2012
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
Dunlap,W. History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States. (re-print of 1st ed., l834)New York: Dover Publications,1969, pp260,264-265
Isham, Samuel. History of American Painting, New York: McMillan Co, 1936, pp l72-l73
Sears, Clara Endicott. Highlights Among the Hudson River Artists. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1968, Intro, pp 26-31
Periodicals:
Burroughs, Alan, "A Letter from Alvan Fisher". Art in America, 32 July 1944, pp ll7-126
Dresser, L., “Portraits Owned by American Antiquarian Society”, Antiques 96, November 1969, pp 724-725
Editors Attic, "New Britain Museum Completes New Wing" (Waiting for the Stage), Antiques Vol LVII, No6, June 1950, pp460-46l
Johnson, Charlotte Buel, "The European Tradition and Alvan Fisher," Art In America. 41, Spring 1953, pp79-85
Kuchina, Jayne A., “New Discoveries in American Art” see Perkins, Robt. F & Gavin, Wm. J, letter concerning “Alvan Fisher’s ‘The Freshet’ Identified, American Art Journal Vol XI, No 2, April 1979, pp85-86
Rutledge, Anna Wells, "Artists In the Life of Charleston,Through Colony and State from Restoration to Reconstruction," American Philosophical Society, Transactions, new series 39, Part 2, November 1949, pp 22-23, p l31,195
Snow, Julia D. Sophronia, "Delineators of the Adams-Jackson American Views Part IV", Antiques XXXVI, No l, July 1939, p20
Swan, Mabel Munson, “The Unpublished Notebooks of Alvan Fisher”, Antiques 68, August 1965, pp 126-129
Vose, Robert C. Jr, "Alvan Fisher,1793-1863", Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin , No 4, October 1962
Winchester, A, "Antiques", Antiques,100, November 1971.p733. Colored illustration "Providence Cove” (cover)
Exhibition Catalogues:
Colby College Art Museum, "Landscapes in Maine 1820-1970: A Sesqui- centennial Exhibition,” April 4-May 10,1970.
Harvard University, "Harvard Portraits: A Catalogue of Portrait Paintings at Harvard University", 1936.
Indiana University Art Museum, "The American Scene 1820-1900", 1970
NW Norton Art Gallery, "The Hudson River School: American Landscape Painting from 1821 to 1907”, October 14-November 25,1975.
Pasadena Art Museum, "American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century" November 30,1960 to January 4,1961.
Smithsonian Institution, "American Landscape: A Changing Frontier", April 28-June 19.1966.