Fischer Fine Art

Heinrich Robert Fischer known as Harry Fischer was born in 1903 Vienna, Austria into a middle-class Jewish family. He established himself as a book dealer and by the mid-1930's was running one of Vienna's largest bookshops. The Nazi annexation of Austria forced him to flee to Britain in 1938. During World War II he served in the British Army’s Pioneer Corps, an auxiliary unit joined by many Austrian and German refugees. Fischer went on to become one of the founders of Marlborough Fine Art in 1946. He became a naturalised British citizen the following year and established Fischer Fine Artin 1971. He died in London in 1977. The artists who showed in his gallery included John Hubbard, Michael Sandle, Brendan Neiland, Ken Kiff, Leon Kossoff, Ansel Krut, Liliane Lijn, Arthur Boyd, David Hepher, Cecil Stephenson and many more.

In 1996 his wife Elfriede Fischer donated The Fischer Collection to the Victoria & Albert Museum. The collection contains 69 books, journals and exhibition catalogues published chiefly in Germany between 1900 and 1939, plus a highly significant typescript inventory of 'Entartete Kunst' ('Degenerate Art') created in 1941/ the Nazi Government. The 'Collection' includes books by or about George Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oscar Kokoschka, Emil Nolde and Kurt Schwitters, among others. The collection also reflects the work of publishers, writers, illustrators, typographers and designers, and shows the relation of the artist to the book. Works of Expressionism, Dada and the Bauhaus are well represented. Many of the publications are distinctive landmarks of their time, and all retain their original format. As such, the collection enhances the Library's holdings relating to German and Austrian publishing in the early years of the 20th century.

Number of Artists referenced: 35