Janet Fish

Janet Fish - Grocery-wrapped Pears - 1971 - pastel on brown wove Canson paper - sheet: 50.8 x 65.4 cm (20 x 25 3/4 in.) mount: 73.7 x 65.4 cm (29 x 25 3/4 in. - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.American contemporary Realist Janet Fish (born 1938) paints still life paintings—many of which focus on bouncing and reflective light. It’s been suggested that her achievements have helped to revitalize both still life and realism, which have often been looked down upon by artists and critics alike. However, “even in modern times still life has presented opportunities for artists to create a visual equivalent of states of being…” and this is certainly a view held by Janet Fish.

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised on the island of Bermuda. Her grandfather, Clark Voorhees (1871-1933) was an American Impressionist painter whose works very much inspired her. Her father was a teacher of Art History, and her mother was a sculptor and potter. Janet began her art studies in Maine, and eventually studied at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture. She was one of the first women to receive her MFA from Yale.

Janet’s solidification as an artist did not come easily—because the generation of young artists who came of age in the 1950s were influenced by the then dominant New York School of Abstract Expressionists. But now her work is exhibited by many prestigious museums and institutions around the world. She’s also received numerous fellowships and awards. Janet Fish now lives and paints out of her SoHo loft in New York City, and her Vermont farmhouse.