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T
he words that we use to define a style, genre, career, or
profession are frequently arbitrary. If a person is highly
successful in several areas or has developed a professional
reputation in more than one field, which of these identifiers
should take precedence? Such is the conundrum with respect
to artist Leonard Everett Fisher.
Excelling almost beyond measure, Fisher is a world-renowned
illustrator, having to his credit about 260 illustrated books, 90
of them written by him. The government commissioned him
to design and create seminal postage stamps and widely
distributed commemorative posters. At the same time, Fisher
is a prolific sought-after fine artist, specializing in the almost
lost technique of painting with tempera.
From his earliest years, Fisher exhibited a precocious art
talent. Perhaps a familial inheritance from his father, a
marine and civil engineer whose professional naval designs
included plans for the USS Arizona, the USS Honolulum,
and the USS North Carolina, Fisher’s meticulous ‘line’ and
detailed images echo his father’s necessary perfection of mili-
tary blueprints. He himself served as a cartographer with
the 30th Topographic Engineers during the Second World
War and participated in the tactical topographic mapping
of major Allied campaigns in the Mediterranean, European,
and Pacific Theaters.
Fisher produced some 6,000 soft engravings or ‘scratchboards’
for illustrations in children’s books. The ‘scratchboard’ technique
involves coating a piece of cardboard with gesso, a thin
ground of dazzling white hard clay, and over-layering a coat
of dark India ink. Scratching away at the ink with the X-acto
knife reveals the white below. The resulting thin lines are
finely crisp and, like an engraving, deliberate, hard, and
unyielding. The resulting white lines on black background
are similar to engravings and woodcuts. Fisher uses this tech-
nique in various illustrated books, including the 19-volume
classic collection of
Colonial American Craftsmen
(1964-
1979)
and
The Wicked City
.
Leonard Everett Fisher:
Seventy Years an Artist
Above:
Tanners,
from the
Colonial American Craftsmen
series,
1964-1966;
published by Franklin Watts; scratchboard
drawing, 8½" x 7½"
Left:
Cabinetmakers,
from the
Colonial American Craftsmen
series, 1964-1966; published by Franklin Watts; scratch-
board drawing, 8½" x 7½"