Hugo Anton Fisher 1854 - 1916

"Marin Pastoral"	Woman Fishing at Pasture Pond	Landscape Waterfall
Grazing cattle in expansive landscape	Marsh landscape	Rocky River Landscape
Sheep in Spring Meadow	Niagra Falls	Cows in marsh
At Estuary's Edge, Alameda (SOLD)	Bayshore with boat (Sold)	Vintage Print 1893 "Homeward Bound"

A grandson and son of artists, Hugo Anton Fisher continued the family line by having two artist sons of his own, Hugo Melville Fisher and Harrison Fisher.

He was born in Kladno, Czechoslovakia and studied with his father and with Anton Mauve. He came to the US at age 20 in 1874 and lived in New York City for a time. He and his wife moved to Alameda, CA in 1886. He established a studio in San Francisco, and while commuting on the ferryboat ride to the studio painted scenes of marshes and local landscapes, often featuring dairy cattle. He had a studio in Hawaii in 1896. He was well liked by the critics on both coasts. Like William Keith and other Bay Area artists of the time, Hugo Anton Fisher lost many paintings in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

Currently, his works are becoming increasingly valuable and sought out by collectors, with one large oil painting of an Hawaii scene having auctioned at Butterfields for almost $40,000.

His signature varies widely, including different slants. Here is the timeline on which we base our conclusions: He came to NYC in 1874; his famous sons were born there in 1877 and 1878. A New York scenery painting is signed H. Fisher with a right slant. They moved to California in 1886. A print copyrighted 1893 is signed H. Fisher with a left slant, and there are excellent Barbizon-influenced oil paintings. The style of these oil paintings would tend to place them in the 19th Century when Barbizon and Tonalist works were being produced by famous painters generally. At this time, his sons were in their teens. Watercolors signed Hugo Fisher, both slants, may then have distinguished him from Harrison Fisher. Finally very large impressive gouaches in expensive frames were signed Hugo A. Fisher, denoting both his commercial success and the need to distinguish from his son Hugo Melville Fisher as well as Harrison. His works are held by the Oakland Museum of California.

Sources : http://www.americanillustration.org; Artists in California 1786 - 1940, Edan Milton Hughes, 3d ed.