Anya Fisher 1905-1992

A N YA F I S H E R (1905-1992)

FEBRUARY 10 - APRIL 7, 2005 Born in Odessa, Russia in 1905 to an affluent family, Anya Fisher demonstrated her first artistic gifts as a pianist when she was just five years old. Shortly after the Bolsheviks killed her father in 1917, her mother fled with this gifted artist and her two sisters to America. After a short career with the Minneapolis Symphony and a brief marriage, she moved to San Francisco and met the love of her life, Eddie Fisher. The two married and made their way to Los Angeles, where she painted and worked at LACMA to fund two years of study at the Academie Grand Chaumiere in Paris. When she returned, she enrolled in classes with Rico Lebrun at the Jepson Art Institute. She graduated with honors in 1951.

Combining elements of mysticism and her advanced feminist sensibility with the aesthetics of West Coast modernism and references to Russian Orthodox icons, Fisher developed a unique visual language with which to express her interest in line, color and volume. Her figurative work concentrates exclusively on women - a reflection of her feminist convictions. In these paintings, women radiate the polarities of power and tenderness. Her women exist, not as objects of the male gaze, but as incarnations of the sublime creative force which so drove the artist throughout her career. Her still lifes and her landscapes, likewise, defy convention and invoke the metaphysical. These paintings exhibit the artist’s fascination with the crystalline structures of geodes and her interest in the emerging Hard Edge school in Los Angeles. In 1992, Anya Fisher died in Pasadena, California, leaving behind a substantial body of paintings and drawings.

LANDSCAPE IN GREENS & BROWNS, 1958 | 20 x 36 inches | oil on canvas

GIRL IN WHITE DRESS 1964 | 40 x 30 inches | oil on canvas

H O R I Z O N TA L S T I L L L I F E nd | 30 x 40 inches | oil on canvas

GIRL IN WHITE BLOUSE 1964 | 30 x 40 inches | oil on canvas

H O R I Z O N TA L AB S T R AC T O B J E C T S W I T H B R OW N AN D B L AC K B AC K G R O U N D nd | 30 x 40 inches | oil on canvas

T WO AB S T R AC T VAS E S W I T H G R AP E S AN D F L OW E R S I N F O R E G R O U N D c. 1970 | 30 x 24 inches | oil on canvas

FEMALE NUDE IN HARMONIC COLORS c. 1980 | 30 x 24 inches | oil on canvas

ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE WITH GREY SKY AND DARK GREY MOON nd | 36 x 36 inches | oil on canvas

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS PAS A D E N A A R T M U S E U M LON G B E AC H M U S E U M O F A R T LOS A N G E L E S CO U N T Y M U S E U M O F A R T NAT I O N A L M U S E U M O F W O M E N I N T H E A R TS

SELECTED EXHIBITION HISTORY EST H E R R O B L E S G A L L E RY, LO S A N G E L E S - 1 9 4 7, 1948, 1956 WEB B G A L L E RY LO S A N G E L E S - 1 9 4 8 SAN TA B A R B A R A M U S E U M O F A R T, N AT I O N A L DRAWING SHO W - 1949 SAN A N TO N I O M U S E U M , N AT I O N A L D R AW I N G SHO W - 1949 NAT I O N A L O R A N G E S H O W, S A N B E R N A D I N O - 1949 ORS Y T E G A L L E RY, LO S A N G E L E S - 1 9 5 0 ASS O C I AT I O N O F AM E R I C A N A R T I S TS G A L L E RY, LOS ANGELES - 1950 ANT H E S G A L L E RY, LO S A N G E L E S - 1 9 5 1 CLA R E M O N T CO L L E G E , D R AW I N G S H O W - 1 9 5 4 PAS A D E N A A R T M U S E U M - 1 9 5 8 LON G B E AC H M U S E U M O F A R T - 1 9 5 9 PAU L P LU M M E R G A L L E R I E S , LO S A N G E L E S - 1 960, 1961 GAL L E R I A G I A N N I , LO S A N G E L E S - 1 9 6 3 , 1 9 6 4 MAN H AT TA N G A L L E R I E S - 1 9 6 4 M cK E N Z I E G A L L E RY, LO S A N G E L E S - 1 9 6 5 SIM O N PAT R I C H G A L L E RY, LO S A N G E L E S - 1 9 6 7 OCC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E - 1 9 6 8 UNI V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A - 1 9 6 9 MAS C AG N I D ’ I TA L I A - 1 9 7 0 , 1 9 7 1 PAC I F I C S O C I E T Y O F A R T I S TS , PAC I F I C C U LT U R E MUSEUM - 1971-1974 SUL L I VA N G O S S - 1 9 8 4 , 1 9 8 5 , 1 9 8 6 , 2 0 0 3, 2 0 0 5

THREE GRACES IN DIALOGUE 1980 | 36 x 42 inches | oil on canvas

Sullivan Goss - An American Gallery 7 East Anapamu Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805) 730-1460

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COVER: GIRL IN DARK DRESS SEATED IN ORANGE | 36 x 36 inches | oil on canvas

Prsrt Std. U.S. Postage PAID Santa Barbara, CA Permit No. 553