 Elizabeth Campbell Fisher Clay is primarily known as Elizabeth Campbell Clay Fisher
|
|
|
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following biography is excerpted from writing by the artist's daughter,
Monica Clay: Courtesy of Sue Rice, Curator of the Louise and Alan
Sellars Collection:
Born in West Dedham, Massachusetts,
Elizabeth Fisher did portrait and figure work
that has obvious influences of Robert Henri and the Ash Can school of Social Realist painting. She came from ancestors of pure British descent. She
graduated from Smith College and then traveled to England and
extensively in Europe, often accompanied by her mother. She studied at
the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts from about 1899, and then won a scholarship to
the Art Students League in New York where she joined classes of Robert
Henri and studied with William Merritt Chase at the Chase
School in Madrid, and on several occasions returned to Spain with
Henri.
She signed her portraits Fisher on the back of the canvas and never used her full name. Sometimes the signature had E.C. Fisher.
She
married Howard Clay, and they lived in England near Halifax in a 15th-century house called Godley. Howard Clay was Mayor of Halifax from 1917
to 1919, and Elizabeth ran a Red Cross Bazaar and also had a child
during that war time period. She lived in England for the next thirty years but kept in touch with
her New York friends, especially Robert Henri.
She also had a studio in Paris
and painted there and in Spain with Henri and his classes when
they visited abroad. In the last 20 years of her career, she painted
floral scenes.
She died in Philadelphia.
A solo exhibition at Rowlands Galleries in Boston in
1908 included works by Elizabeth Fisher of scenes from Holland, England, Spain, and New England.
Note from Charles Clay:
Elizabeth
Campbell Fisher Clay 1871 -1959 painted under a variety of names.
Initially EC Fisher or Elizabeth C Fisher, and then after her marriage
as EC Fisher Clay or ECF Clay. She did not hyphenate her name
(Fisher-Clay).
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|