Gertrude Fiske (American, 1879-1961), Lilies, c.1925-35. Oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 17 1/4 in.

Gertrude Fiske - Cornhill 2 (1923)

Women's History Month

Gertrude Fiske (American, 1878-1961)

Fun fact: Before she started painting professionally,Gertrude Fiske was a pro golfer.

Gertrude Fiske (American, 1879-1961) Woman in White • c. 1917 • Unspecified location

Gertrude Fiske

Art + Boardwalk Empire: Plover

4.01 // Woman with Flowers by Gertrude Fiske

4.02 // Landscape by David Lidbetter

4.03 // Kiss on the Shore by Moonlight by Edvard Munch

4.01 // Towards the Winter Farm by Paul Evans

4.02 // Robber at the Gate of Paradise by Helene Schjerbeck

Gertrude Fiske (American, 1879-1961)

Race Day

unsigned, identified on a label from Robert Schoelkopf Gallery (affixed to the frame backing foamcore)

oil on canvas

Skinner

Gertrude Fiske

Gertrude FISKE

Mary.' (c1920) Gertrude Fiske was an accomplished Impressionist painter who trained under Frank Benson. Perhaps not as well known as some of her contemporaries but considered to be at least the equal of Mary Cassatt. An essential figure in the history of women painters.

Bettina, c.1925 by Gertrude Fiske (American, 1878--1961)

Gertrude Fiske - Peirce Island (ca. 1925)

Gertrude Fiske (American, 1915-1986) • Bettina • c. 1925 • oil on canvas • Private Collection • Photo: Jeremy Fogg

Woman and Flowers by Gertrude Fiske, 1922.

MWW Artwork of the Day (3/27/20) Gertrude Fiske (American, 1878-1961) Bettina (c. 1925) Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 76.2 cm. Private Collection

Gertrude Fiske was a product of the Boston School of figurative painting, and her best work was accomplished with a vigor characteristic of American realism in the 1920s.  This painting, perhaps her best known, echoes another of her portraits, now in the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, where a similar tension plays out between an independent female subject and a strident backdrop. As if a red drapery adorned with gold decorations (a nod to Whistler can be seen in the peacock) wasn’t enough, Fiske raised the visual ante by lighting the figure from two separate sources. That the drapery behind the model appears to ignore either light underscores the work’s artifice. The wall hanging is too much, but notwithstanding such stumbles in brinksmanship, one wishes Fiske had pushed further in her exploration of pattern and color. “Bettina” represents an incomplete resolution of Fiske’s influences: the portrait updates the reserve of the Boston School, while the wall hanging suggests the visceral approach taught by Woodbury. (adapted from an exhibition review by Jerry Weiss for Linea, 5/30/18)

Portrait of Rosamond Castle Winslow - Gertrude Fiske