PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3/17/15
Contact: Leslie LaSala, Director of Marketing & Communications
203-222-7070 leslie@westportartscenter.org
Attached images:
1. Leonard Everett Fisher, "The Opening," 1947, oil on canvas
2. Leonard Everett Fisher, “Floating Sphere,” 1969, acrylic on gessoed
Massonite
3. Leonard Everett Fisher in his studio. Photo by Helen Klisser During
The Westport Arts Center Celebrates Renowned Westport Artist Leonard
Everett Fisher Beginning March 27
On Friday, March 27 from 6-8pm, The Westport Arts Center will open its
“Leonard Everett Fisher: A Retrospective” exhibition featuring one of Westport’s
most revered practicing artists, now at age 90. The exhibition runs March 27 April 25, and is free and open to the public.
The collection reflects Fisher’s ability to blur the lines between design, illustration
and art, and reveals the long-lasting impact that Fisher has made in his
lifetime. The Westport Arts Center is grateful to all the supporting private and
public institutions that made loans for the exhibition, including Cavalier Galleries,
the New Britain Museum of American Art, and Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (NYC).
Curated by Helen Klisser During, the Westport Arts Center’s Artistic Director, this
unique retrospective includes 48 paintings, drawings, and illustrations from
Fisher’s prolific 70-year career. The exhibition will range from his earliest
drawings to his latest works.
Fisher comes from a family of four generations that shared an artistic flair, but is
the first of his family to have become a professional “picture maker.” He
attributes his love for storytelling to his mother, who read him encyclopedia
excerpts in elementary school. His parents were supportive of his art and
encouraged him to pursue painting and design; they gave him a “studio” in the
front hall closet of their Bronx apartment after he dipped his father’s paintbrush in
India ink and destroyed his father’s watercolor painting.
Although Fisher has been highly recognized for his artistic accomplishments, it is
only recently that he truly considered himself an artist. “I always viewed myself as
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a craftsman working on commissions, putting my own stamp on them,” he
stated. He cites that painting is his passion, and has at times spent sixteen
hours a day on his craft.
Fisher acknowledges that his wife of 62 years, Margery, has been his greatest
influence, and believes several life experiences had significant impact on his
success. “One factor was being born to the right parents. Second was coming
out of the war alive. Meeting my wife and getting married is number three, and
fourth is having the best kids (and their spouses) and grandchildren in the world,”
he said.
Born in New York City in 1924, Fisher is a World War II veteran (1942-1946) who
served at home, North Africa and Hawaii with the 30th Topographic Engineers as
a photogrammetrist – one who makes topographical maps from aerial
photographs. During two years of deployments overseas under orders of the
United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, and in cooperation with the British Survey
Directorate and the Joint Intelligence Command Pacific Ocean Area, Fisher, a
non-commissioned officer, was assigned to the 30th Engineers Battalion
Operations. Here he participated in secret missions creating vital ground, dead
reckoning, sea and navigational maps.
He later attended Yale University’s School of Art, earned BFA and MFA degrees
(1949, 1950), was a recipient of Yale’s Winchester Fellowship and John
Ferguson Weir Prize, and taught Design Theory as a Yale graduate teaching
fellow.
His prewar art studies (1932-1942) began at the Heckscher Foundation (NYC),
and continued with Moses Soyer (New Art School, NYC); Reginal Marsh (Art
Students League, NYC); Olindo Ricci and Serge Chermayeff (Brooklyn College,
NYC). He served as the Dean of the Whitney School of Art, and was at the time
the youngest academic officer in America.
Fisher has illustrated some 250 books for young readers (1955-2007), authoring
88 of these, a number of which appear in a dozen or more languages. He has
designed 10 United States postage stamps and has executed paintings for the
Norwalk (CT) Transit District building. He has also served as the President of the
Westport Public Library.
His numerous honors include a Pulitzer painting award, the Premio Grafico Fiera
Internazionale di Bologna, the Medallion of the University of Southern
Mississippi, the Christopher Media for Illustration, a National Jewish Book Award,
the Regina Medal of the Catholic Library Association, the University of
Minnesota’s Kerlan Award, the American Library Association’s Arbuthnot citation,
and the New England Booksellers Association Children’s Literature Award.
His art is in collections of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution
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National Museum of Postal History, the Butler Art Institute, the New Britain
Museum of American Art, the Museum of American Illustration, the Housatonic
Museum of Art, Mt. Holyoke and Union Colleges, the Universities of Connecticut,
Brown, Oregon, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Appalachia State, and Southern
Mississippi, New York and Westport Public Libraries, among others.
Fisher’s art has been seen at the Chicago Art Institute, the Brandywine River
Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and other venues
nationwide. His work, Coney Island, 1949 is currently on view as part of the
Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861 - 2008 exhibition at the
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art through May 31, 2015.
He was a delegate to the White House Conference on Library and Information
Services during the Carter Administration; is Dean Emeritus of Paier College of
Art (CT); a recipient of an Honorary Degree from that institution; and a member
of the Sanford Low Illustration Committee of the New Britian Museum of
American Art.
For more information, contact the Westport Arts Center at 203/222-7070 or
www.westportartscenter.org.
Related Programs:
Westport Arts Center ArtSpeaks: Tuesday, March 31 from 6-8pm
Leonard Everett Fisher will speak as part of the Westport Arts Center’s
ArtSpeaks series on Tuesday, March 31 from 6-8pm. ArtSpeaks is designed to
bring accomplished, groundbreaking and renowned leaders of the art world to the
local community. As part of this event, Fisher will show a different retrospective
on video. Tickets for the event are $20 each ($25 for non-members), and are
available through the Westport Arts Center website: www.westportartscenter.org
or by phone (203/222-7070).
Westport Arts Center High School Student Art Exhibition: March 27 – April
25
Held in the Westport Arts Center’s Project Space, the Westport High School
Student Art Exhibition will showcase young talent from the Westport area. In
memory of Tracey Sugarman, juror and esteemed Westport artist, Leonard
Everett Fisher, and Helen Klisser Juring, the Westport Arts Center’s Artistic
Director, will select the first Tracy Sugarman Award to a promising young artist,
as well as a gift certificate to Jerry’s Artarama. The event is sponsored by The
Honorable Alan and Janet Nevas in memory of Tracy Sugarman.
Westport Public Library
During the Westport Arts Center exhibition, the Westport Public Library will
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display their vast and varied collection of Fisher’s books.
About the Westport Arts Center
The Westport Arts Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting community
through the arts, reaches more than 11,000 people annually through outstanding
programs in visual arts, arts education, and the performance arts of Chamber music,
Jazz, and film.
The Westport Arts Center also receives philanthropic support from 4th Row Films, the
Aibel Foundation, the Arnhold Foundation, Artur and Heida Hermanns Holde
Foundation, Inc., Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Bernstein Global Wealth
Management, Borrowed - A Vintage Inspired Company, the Brant Foundation, CBP,
Cannupa Foundation, the Carl Marks Foundation, Cohen and Wolf, P.C., the
Connecticut Office of the Arts, EC Infosystems, Finn Dixon & Herling LLP, Fairfield
County Bank, Fairfield County Community Foundation, Festivities, Gault, Energy,
Geiger's, GWAY Marketing Gymnasium, the Hall Art Foundation, KD & J Botanica, Land
Rover Milford, Landtech, Lillian August, LLBH Private Wealth Management LLC,
Madison/Mott, Main Street Resources/Green Village Initiative, Meadow Ridge, Melissa &
Doug, the Mitchell’s Family of Stores, Moffly Media, Newman’s Own Foundation,
Riverside Management Group, Saugatuck Sweets, the Shack Sackler Foundation, the
Sheffer Family Foundation, Sontag Advisory LLC, Stamford Tent, Steel Shed, Sun Hill
Foundation, Thomas C. Hofstetter and Daniel Baron of The Saugatuck Group, Tito’s
Handmade Vodka, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, Westport
Family Counseling, Westport Now, Westport Resources, Westport Special Education
PTA, William J. Rosenbloom Charitable Trust, Xerox Foundation, WPKN, WSHU Public
Radio Group, and Yellowtail.
For more information, contact the Westport Arts Center at (203) 222-7070 or
www.westportartscenter.org. The Westport Arts Center gallery is open seven days a
week, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., at 51
Riverside Avenue, Westport, CT.
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