Gertrude Fiske: American Master

"Zinnias" by Gertrude Fiske

Several years ago I had the opportunity to see an exhibit of paintings at the Dayton Art Institute from the collection of the National Academy of Design, the first institution in the United States founded and led by professional artists (1825). Two very striking pictures in particular had me stop in my tracks. They were painted by an artist I had never heard of, a woman named Gertrude Fiske. Since then I've wanted very much to learn more about her and just yesterday morning received a copy of an article from Carol Walker Aten that she had written for a book entitled "Gertrude Fiske: American Master," which had accompanied an exhibit of her work. Carol has graciously given me permission to post excerpts from her article, and my heartfelt thanks go out to her.

Gertrude Fiske (1879-1961)

"Boston, Massachusetts, at the end of the nineteenth century was a bustling, growing, and vibrant city. A commitment to the fine arts, music and literature, higher education, and modern transportation, and even the recent arrival of electricity had vastly transformed the very appearance of the city a quarter of a millennia after it had been settled. The last few decades of the century saw a cultural construction boom with the creation of institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Fenway Court, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Symphony, Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Simmons College for Women. It was here that future artist Gertrude Horsford Fiske was born on April 16, 1879, to Andrew Fiske, a prominent Boston lawyer and Gertrude Hubbard Horsford Fiske. Five siblings followed: Augustus, Eben, Gardiner, Cornelia and Hannah. The young family would spend the spring and fall at their family home 'Stadhaugh' in Weston and summers at their cottage 'Nine Gables,' in Cataumet, Massachusetts."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Gertrude Fiske: American Master" by Carol Walker Aten (Author), Lainey McCartney (Author), Richard M. Candee (Author) and Gerald W.R. Ward. (Editor).)