The Artistry of Janet Fish
Janet Fish was an American contemporary realist artist who explored the interaction of light with everyday objects through oil painting, lithography, and screenprinting. Her work often focused on the still life genre, utilizing elements of transparency such as water, plastic wrap, and cellophane. She was known for depicting reflected light and multiple overlapping patterns through the use of bold, high color values. Her preferred subjects included various forms of clear glassware—such as bottles, jars, goblets, and glasses—often filled with liquids like vinegar, liquor, or water. Other recurring motifs in her compositions included goldfish, fishbowls, teacups, flower bouquets, vegetables, textiles with interesting patterns, and mirrored surfaces.
Life and Education
Born in Boston, United States, Fish was raised in Bermuda. She was part of a family of artists, including her father, Peter Stuyvesant Fish, a professor of art history, and her mother, Florence Whistler Voorhees, a sculptor and potter. Her early interest in the visual arts led her to study ceramics and sculpture, eventually attending Smith College, where she concentrated on sculpture and printmaking. She later attended the Yale University School of Art and Architecture, where she shifted her focus from sculpture to painting. Fish earned a Master of Fine Arts from Yale and later served as an instructor at several institutions, including the School of Visual Arts, Parsons The New School for Design, Syracuse University, and the University of Chicago. In her later years, she resided and painted in a loft in SoHo, New York City, and a farmhouse in Middletown Springs, Vermont.
