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Leonard Everett Fisher
was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1924.
As an eight-year-old, he began his more formal art training at New
York’s Heckscher Foundation in 1932. He went on to study with with
Moses Soyer at the New Art School, Reginald Marsh at the Art
Students League, and Olindo Ricci and Serge Chermayeff at
Brooklyn College (1939-1942). He served as a topographer for the
30
th Topographic Engineers during and after the Second World War
(1942-46).
He received his BFA (1949) and MFA (1950) degrees from Yale
University and taught design theory as a Graduate Fellow. Fisher
was awarded Yale’s William Wirt Winchester Traveling Fellowship and
the John Ferguson Weir Prize. His art was first seen in Manhattan at
the Jacques Seligmann Galleries (1946-1948) and later at the
Edwin C. Hewitt Gallery (1950-1952). Between 1954 and 2007, he
illustrated some 260 books for young readers, published in more
than a dozen languages world-wide. He has designed ten United
States postage stamps; executed paintings for the Norwalk (CT)
Transit District Building lobby, and created numerous easel works.
Fisher is a recipient of the Joseph Pulitzer Painting Fellowship
(1950),
the Premio Grafico Fiera Internazionale di Bologna (1968),
the University of Southern Missisippi Medallion (1979), the Natio-
nal Jewish Book Award (1980), the Christopher Medal for
Illustration (1981), the Catholic Library Association’s Regina Medal
(1991),
the University of Minnesota’s Kerlan Award (1991), the
American Library Association’s Arbuthnot Citation (1994), and the
New England Booksellers Association Children’s Literature Award
(2002),
among other honors. Fisher was a delegate to the 1979
White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services
during the Carter Administration. He is Dean Emeritus of the Paier
College of Art (CT); formerly dean of the Whitney School of Art (CT);
a member of the Low Illustration Committee of the New Britain
Museum of American Art; and, formerly, a member of the advisory
board of the Master of Fine Arts program of Western Connecticut
State University. He is currently represented by Cavalier Galleries,
Inc. (Greenwich, CT); and John Hawkins & Associates (NY).
Group Exhibition Highlights
1939:
Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, NY
1942:
Rockefeller Center. New York, NY
1948:
Jacques Seligmann Galleries. New York, NY
1949:
American Federation of Arts National Tour
1949:
Yale Art Gallery, Yale University. New Haven, CT
1951:
Whitney Museum. New York, NY
1974:
National Academy of Design. New York, NY
1976:
New York Historical Society. New York, NY
1979:
Grand Central Art Galleries. New York, NY
1984:
Yeshiva University. New York, NY
1990:
Society of Illustrators. New York, NY
2002, 2004:
Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, PA
2005:
Rye Art Center. Rye, NY
2005:
Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Washington, DC
2007:
Chicago Art Institute. Chicago, IL
Solo Exhibition Highlights
1952:
Edwin C. Hewitt Gallery. New York, NY
1968:
Silvermine Guild of Artists. New Canaan, CT
1973:
New Britain Museum of American Art. New Britain, CT
1975:
Westport Public Library. Westport, CT
1976:
Free Library of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA
1976:
General Electric Corporation. Trumbull, CT
1979:
Westport-Weston Arts Council Gallery. Westport, CT
1985:
Everson Museum. Syracuse, NY
1990:
Kimberly Gallery. New York, NY
1991:
Henry Green Collection. Southport, CT
1994:
Northeast University Museum of Art. Kearney, NE
1995:
Westport Art Center. Westport, CT
2000:
New York Public Library, New York, NY
2000:
Stamford Museum and Nature Center. Stamford, CT
2001:
Westport Public Library. Westport, CT
2002:
Silvermine Guild. New Canaan, CT
2002:
Buell Children’s Museum. Pueblo, CO
2008:
Cavalier Galleries. Greenwich, CT
2008:
Westport Public Library. Westport, CT
Publication Highlights (among more than 260)
The Exploits of Xenophen
, 1954
America Grows Up
, 1960
The Supreme Court
, 1962
A Jungle Jumble
, 1966
The Story of Science in America
, 1967
The Wicked City
, 1972
A Russian Farewell
, 1980
Pyramid of the Sun and Moon
, 1988
The Wailing Wall
, 1989
The Spotted Pony
, 1992
David and Goliath
, 1993
Gandhi
, 1995
The Great Wall of China
, 1995
Moses
, 1995
Leonard Everett Fisher: A Life of Art
, 1998
Sky, Sea, the Jetty, And Me
, 2001
Don Quixote and the Windmills
, 2004
Dybbuk
, 2005
BIOGRAPHY