Alvan (Alvin) Fisher

1792 Born in Needham, Massachusetts

1810–12 Studied with noted sign and ornamental painter John Ritto Penniman in Boston

1815–19 Painted animals, rural genre scenes, and landscapes

1817 First exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the American Academy of Fine Arts

1819 Portrait painting became chief source of income

1822–25 Maintained a studio in Hartford, Connecticut

1825 Studied art in Paris, France

1826 Maintained studio in Boston

1827 Elected an honorary member of the National Academy of Design; first exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum

1834 Produced earliest known White Mountain work

1840 Moved to Dedham, Massachusetts

1852 Auctioned eighty-four paintings in Bartlett, New Hampshire

1858 Exhibited Chocorua Peak, Pond, and Adjacent Scenery in an exhibition organized by Albert Bierstadt at New Bedford, Massachusetts

1863 Died in Dedham, Massachusetts

 

 

   image of the artist

Alvan Fisher, The Hunter, A Self-Portrait, watercolor over graphite pencil on wove paper, signed and dated lower right, 1837; picturing, according to an early inscription, “the artist at North Conway, New Hampshire.” Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, gift of Maxim Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Watercolors and Drawings, 1800–1875 (61.276). Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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