Artists Illustrating Boys' Fashions: Mark Fisher (United States/England, 1841-1923)



Figure 1.--Mark Fischer painted this boy. We do not knowe who he was. He looks to be English and was probably painted in the late 1880s or early 1890s.

Mark Fisher is listed as a British artist, although he was born in Boston and studied there at the Lowell Institute. Unfortunately HBC has been ble to find very little information about Fischer. He went to Paris in 1872 and studied under Gleyre and Corot. He came to England in 1872 and became a member of such societies as N.E.A.... A.R.A.....R.A.....R.I....and R.O.I. He exhibited at many well know galleries in England and has had several paintings bought by the Royal Academy under the 'Chantrey Bequest' which now hang in the Tate Gallery in London. Although primarily a landscape artist he was also known for his portrait. Hopefully some HBC readers will provide us some additional information.

Birth

Mark Fisher is listed as a British artist, although he was born in Boston during 1841.

Childhood

We know nothing about Mark Fischer's childhood. He was raised in Boston, althogh I'm not sure about the circumstances of his family. We have been able to fnd very little information on this artist.

Childhood Clothing

HBC has no infofmtion on how Mark was dressed as a boy. Presumably he wore kilt suits. As Fischer was born in 1872, he is to old to have been dressed in Fauntleroy suits like the one he painted here.



Figure 2.--The boy has long shoulder length hair, but does not appear to have been curled.

Education

Fisher studied at the Lowell Institute. He went to Paris in 1872 and studied under Gleyre and Corot.

Career

He came to England in 1872 and became a member of such societies as N.E.A.... A.R.A.....R.A.....R.I....and R.O.I. He exhibited at many well know galleries in England and has had several paintings bought by the Royal Academy under the 'Chantrey Bequest' which now hang in the Tate Gallery in London. Although primarily a landscape artist he was also known for his portrait.

Portrait

Boy

We do not know who he was. He looks to be English and was probably painted in the late 1880s or early 1890s. He looks to be about 10 years old. This outfit and the fact that he had is portrait painted means that he came from a wealthy family.

Garments

He appaers to be wearing a dark-green, classic small velvet jacket. As was common with Faunreroy jackets, it is short and cut open so the elabrate lace and ruffled trim on the blouse can be seen. The blouse has a large large collar with very expensive lace work. The lace collar is quite large and even extends over his shoulders. He notably does not wear a bow with his large collar. HBC believes that large bows with lace collars were less common in Britain than Aerica.



Figure 3.--This image provides details on the boy's lace collar. This looks like very expensive lace work. Note that he does not wear a bow.

Hair style

The boy has long shoulder length hair. HBC had thought that the boy did not appear to have curled hair. We assumed this because there were no ringlets. A HBC reader insists, however, that his hair has been curled. Apparently boys had their hair styled in other ways besides ringlets as were common in America. Staight hair on the top does not suddenly become curly on the bottom. French boys had curled hair but rarely ringlets.





Christopher Wagner





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main individual "A-L" artists alphabetical page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Bibliographies] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Contributions] [Countries]
[Boys' Clothing Home]



Created: August 31, 2001
Last updated: September 1, 2001