Anton Otto Fischer

American (1882-1962)

Born in Germany in 1882, artist Anton Otto Fischer emigrated to the United States in 1897 and worked on ships until becoming a handyman and model for artist Arthur Burdett Frost. Encouraged by Frost, Fischer traveled to Paris to study at the Académie Julian under Jean Paul Laurens, spent summers painting landscapes in Normandy, and later, relocated to Wilmington, Delaware to study under the Brandywine School founder, Howard Pyle, whose influence would inspire Fischer’s work for the entirety of his career.

In 1910, Fischer sold his first illustration to Harper’s Weekly and later that year, was hired by The Saturday Evening Post, a relationship that would last more than forty years. His illustrations depicted women, children, animals and sports, but he was best known for his maritime themes of ships at full sail, battle scenes and choppy seas. Among his illustrated books were Moby Dick, Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, among others.

During World War II, Fischer became an official Coast Guard artist and was honored as the Coast Guard’s artist laureate. In addition to creating nautically-themed propaganda posters, he also documented the “heroic deeds of the Merchant mariners and Coast Guardsmen.”

Fischer was a member of the Salons of America, Society of Independent Artists, Woodstock Art Association and was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1996. His works are held in the permanent collections of the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut, Kendall Whaling Museum, Massachusetts and Woodstock Art Association in New York.