Legacy

Legacy, Mixed Media

In Memory of Bill Fischer (1917-2018)

2011 photo of Bill Fischer by John Nation for Louisville Magazine

2011 photo of Bill Fischer by John Nation for Louisville Magazine

Bill Fischer was an artist and collector his entire life, exerting no small influence on other artists through direct example and by endowing programs and scholarships through the University of Louisville’s Allen R. Hite Institute.

"Cookie Scheckles" by Bill Fischer, lacquer on board, circa 1970. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.

"Cookie Scheckles" by Bill Fischer, lacquer on board, circa 1970. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.

Fischer began painting at a young age, and displayed early work from when he was 14 years old in his home more than 70 years later. His first professional gig was as an illustrator for the Courier-Journal in 1936, but left the job over a pay dispute. Although he was a successful business owner throughout his life, Fischer never stopped making art, never stopped pursuing opportunities to grow as an artist. One particular story places Fischer at an historic moment in Mexican Art History.

Stirling Dickinson (from Chicago) founded Escuela de Bellas Artes, which would become one of the most significant cultural centers in Mexico, in or about 1936. It was located in an old convent in San Miguel de Allende. After World War II, the school qualified for students on the G.I. Bill and therefore attracted a good many U.S. veterans interested in studying art. In 1948, Dickinson hired renowned Mexican social realist painter David Alfaro Sigueiros to teach. It was at this time that Bill Fischer and his wife moved to San Miguel and rented a furnished house. 

Fischer, on the G.I. Bill, enrolled in Bellas Artes, working, along with a half a dozen other students, for almost a year with Sigueiros on an ambitious mural, doing mostly outline design. During 1949, the U.S. became convinced that, under Siqueiros, the art school had become infested with communists, (this was the height of the “Red Scare” and McCarthyism in the U.S.) and so the G.I. Bill accreditation was rescinded, and most of the students left. Dickinson and Siqueiros had an altercation, resulting in Siqueiros being knocked down a staircase and resigning, leaving the mural uncompleted. Fisher stayed on for a while longer, but then returned with his wife to Louisville, where he started his own business.

He continued to work as an artist, participating in the “Magnificent Mile” art exhibit in Chicago in the late 1950s and the “Interior Valley” exhibit at the Art Museum of Cincinnati. As his career developed he never restricted himself to any one style or medium. If you collected Fischer’s work, you are as likely to have a landscape as you are a cityscape, as likely to own a sculpture as a painting.

Fischer also completed public work including several murals for churches and synagogues. Most notably, he created the stained glass windows for the Keneseth Israel Synagogue on Taylorsville Road.

"Marketplace" by Bill Fischer, oil on board, 1954. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.

"Marketplace" by Bill Fischer, oil on board, 1954. Courtesy of the Hite Art Institute.


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Written by Keith Waits.
In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, www.Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.

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Drawing, Legacy

Feature: Remembering Mary Ann Currier (1927-2017)

Mary Ann Currier in 2016. Photo by Mo Neal.

Mary Ann Currier in 2016. Photo by Mo Neal.

In days darkened by terrible loss, and so many calls to be kind to one another in the face of violent tragedy, to then to be reminded of this great Kentucky artist and teacher who so exemplified kindness and decency; seems to suggest that her departure needs be measured beyond the commonly experienced parameters of grief and sorrow. Mary Ann Currier originated in an age of a greater civility certainly than we can manage today, and brought compassion and humanity to her life that touched countless many.

When approached to give a lecture about her life and work for Louisville Visual Art a few years back, she responded with typical humility, “Oh, I’m no good at public speaking, and besides, I can’t imagine people would be that interested.” No amount of reassurance could convince her that her soft spoken manner would be a perfect fit for the intimate and relaxed luncheon format, or that people would be eager to share her company.

But I suppose, having been such a meaningful influence on so many Louisville artists over twenty years of teaching at the Louisville School of Art, and being recognized as one of the great American still life artists of the 20th century, she had earned her privacy and solitude.

In 1945, Mary Ann studied at the Chicago School of Fine Art alongside GI’s returning from World War II, often the only woman in the classroom, worked for W.K. Stewarts illustrating furniture ads, and eventually came to take classes at the Louisville School of Art, and became a member of their faculty in 1962. Among the names that came under her tutelage were Suzanne Adams, Gayle Cerlan, Denise Furnish, Lida Gordon, Rebecca Graves, Ed Hamilton, Jacque Parsley, Martin Rollins, Cathy Shepherd, and Neisja Yenawine.

Currier in the Louisville School of Art Life Drawing classroom late 1970's. Photography by Phil Wakeman

Currier in the Louisville School of Art Life Drawing classroom late 1970's. Photography by Phil Wakeman

News of her passing among the community of artists began with a message from one of her former students, Martin Rollins. Rollins, and several others had become friends with Mary Ann and visited with her often. Rollins observed: “Of her accomplishments, I know firsthand her tenure at the Louisville School of Art was one of her most treasured and one she felt most keenly. Mary Ann worked tirelessly on the development and implementation of the Foundations program at LSA as she knew it was both good for the students as well as the school, researching similar programs at other schools in the US.”

"East Palatka Onions" by Mary Ann Currier, 1983, 35x59in, Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

"East Palatka Onions" by Mary Ann Currier, 1983, 35x59in, Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The claim of being one of the great American still life artists of the 20th century may seem quaint and old-fashioned in 2017, but to see one of Mary Ann’s exquisitely rendered oil pastels was intoxicating. The impressive command of the medium could leave one dumbstruck, and she became renowned for her vegetables, particularly onions, which she chose for their durability among organic subjects. She captures the shiny surface and translucent, peeling layers with an almost preternatural observational skill. For an artist, it was daunting to measure your own meager skills against hers, but also inspiring in the way of all great artists, to know that human hand could achieve such verisimilitude with a sophisticated crayon. Whatever the hard work behind the image, the grace contained in each one served as a reminder that art is always about touching the divine.

"Pears in Plastic" by Mary Ann Currier, Oil pastel 20x34in , 1991, Private collection

"Pears in Plastic" by Mary Ann Currier, Oil pastel 20x34in , 1991, Private collection

That notion is even more powerfully realized in the prosaic choice of subject matter. That she turned her attention so often to flowers is not unexpected, and they are masterpieces, but it is the fruits and vegetables: the pears, onions, peppers, and the like, where she achieves that transcendence that comes from sublime technique, technique in the service of communicating the organic forms of nature with great humility. Once artists celebrated the divine through depictions of stories from various mythologies. Vaulted ceilings and church alter pieces were testaments to the Judeo-Christian god, and statues abound for the Roman deities and various pagan religions. Mary Ann Currier’s drawings are testament to the gentle, humanist spirituality of modern society.

"Apples Cezanne" by Mary Ann Currier, Oil pastel 26x31in, 1989, Private collection

"Apples Cezanne" by Mary Ann Currier, Oil pastel 26x31in, 1989, Private collection

Click on image to view the KET documentary on Mary Ann Currier

Click on image to view the KET documentary on Mary Ann Currier


This Feature article was written by Keith Waits.
In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, www.Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.

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