Fisher - American Beauties: the Artwork of Harrison Fisher

American BeautiesAmerican Belles, 1911

In 1894 the United States Playing Card Company featured his illustration, Laughing Water on a deck of playing cardshis first published image. That same year, Judge Magazine published his political cartoon, Japan-Made America, on the back coverhis first published cover. He achieved both of these milestones at the age of sixteen! William Randolph Hearst noticed Fishers work in the San Francisco Examiner and, in 1897, sent him to New York City to illustrate the New York Journal. He also did both interior and cover illustrations for magazines and periodicals such as Puck, The Saturday Evening Post, Womans Home Companion, and The Ladies' Home Journal. In 1906, Hearst rehired him to work for the American Magazine, the first syndicated Sunday magazine supplement. This put the Fisher girls in homes all across America. In 1907, Fishers work began to appear on the cover of Hearsts Cosmopolitan, and the magazine soon dubbed him the father of a thousand girls. He was the top cover artist for Cosmopolitan in 1909 and made $60,000 in 1910.

He continued to create covers for Cosmopolitan for 22 yearsalmost 300 of them. Cosmopolitan called Harrison Fisher The Worlds Greatest Artist, saying that There is an underlying ideal that dominates his paintings. His ideal type has come to be regarded as the type of American beauty: girls, young with the youth of a new country, strong with the vitality of buoyant good health, fresh with clear-eyed brightness, athletic, cheerful, sympathetic, and beautiful. The Fisher girlsall-American women with hourglass figures and decorative hats were the new models of feminine beauty. They soon became the standard for women, making Harrison Fisher an obvious successor to Charles Dana Gibson and his Gibson girl. Success magazine stated, Since Charles Dana Gibson has given up his pen and ink work for oil paintings, Mr.

Fisher has become his natural and popular successor... (a) well-bred and healthy minded American girl is delightfully free from pose. Mistress of herself, she looks out upon the world with a frankness and an assurance born of the realization that she is an accepted ornament of society and quite sure of respectful consideration. One of Harrisons favorite models was Titanic survivor Dorothy Gibson (no relation to Charles Dana Gibson). She appeared on numerous covers and postcards (see pages 41, 61, and 110). In addition to his portraits, Fisher illustrated over 100 novels and short stories.

He also volunteered to help the U.S. war effort during WWI by producing posters for the Red Cross (see page 152). As Fishers popularity grew, his images were put on everything imaginablepostcards, pocket mirrors, sheet music, and household items. His expertise on feminine beauty made him the perfect choice for the role of beauty contest judge. He even had his own beauty contest in 1910 to find the real American beauty. The winner can be seen on page 112.

Harrison Fisher never married, but had a close companionhis secretary Kate Clemens. He died in 1934 at the age of 57 after undergoing a medical procedure, leaving his entire estate to Kate. George M. Cohan delivered the eulogy at his funeral. At Fishers request, 900 pieces of artwork were burned, with only a few pieces kept by relatives. Over his lifetime, Harrison was a proficient artist, painting approximately 15,000 women and drawing 2,000 illustrations.

He had a captivating style and was a master at capturing small nuances. In 1997 Harrison Fisher was inducted into the Illustrators Hall of Fame. American Beauties American Beauties
The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 Sketches
The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 On the Lake An Illustration from Scribners Magazine One of the Pleasures of the Game The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 Fore!
The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 After the Dance
The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 The Automobile Girl
The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 A Modern Eve
The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 Not YetBut Soon An Hour With Art In the Canoe The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907 Something More than a Diversion
The Harrison Fisher Book, 1907