Janet Fish facts for kids

Black Bowl Red Scarf by Janet Fish

Janet Fish was an amazing American artist. She was born on May 18, 1938, and passed away on December 11, 2025. Janet Fish was known for her realistic paintings. She specialized in a type of art called "still life." In her art, she loved to show how light played with everyday objects. She used oil paints, lithography, and screenprinting to create her vibrant works. Many people say she brought new life to still life painting.

Meet Janet Fish: A Master of Light and Color

Janet Isobel Fish was a talented artist who created beautiful and detailed paintings. She was especially good at making everyday objects look exciting and full of life. Her work helped make "still life" painting popular again.

Early Life and Artistic Beginnings

Janet Fish was born in Boston, Massachusetts. When she was ten, her family moved to Bermuda. She grew up surrounded by art and creativity. Her father was an art history professor. Her mother was a sculptor and potter. Her sister became a photographer. Even her grandfather and uncle were artists!

From a young age, Janet knew she wanted to be an artist. She loved making art and first thought she would be a sculptor. She was very good at ceramics. As a teenager, she even helped a sculptor named Byllee Lang in her studio.

Discovering Her Artistic Path

Janet went to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. There, she focused on sculpture and printmaking. She also spent a summer studying painting in New York City. In 1960, she earned her first degree.

Later, Janet attended Yale University School of Art and Architecture. This is where she decided to switch from sculpture to painting. Her painting teacher, Alex Katz, encouraged students to visit art galleries. This helped Janet learn a lot about the art world. At that time, many art schools taught a style called Abstract Expressionism. But Janet wanted to create her own unique style. She felt that Abstract Expressionism didn't quite fit her vision.

In 1963, Janet Fish made history. She was one of the first women to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale's art school.

Painting Everyday Wonders

Janet Fish loved to paint things from the real world. She wasn't interested in abstract art, which often uses shapes and colors that don't look like real objects. Instead, she wanted to show the "physical presence of objects." Her art was inspired by old Dutch still life paintings. She used bright, tropical colors, perhaps remembering her childhood in Bermuda.

What is Still Life Art?

Still life art is a type of painting that shows everyday objects. These objects are usually arranged on a table or surface. Artists often paint fruits, flowers, dishes, or other household items. Janet Fish took this traditional art form and made it fresh and exciting.

Capturing Light and Transparency

Janet was fascinated by how light interacted with different surfaces. She loved painting clear objects like jars, cellophane, and wrappers. She often painted various kinds of clear glassware. These could be empty or filled with liquids like water or juice. You might see glasses, bottles, goblets, or even a fishbowl with a goldfish in her paintings. Other favorite subjects included teacups, bouquets of flowers, patterned fabrics, and shiny, mirrored surfaces.

Some people called her work "Photorealist." This means it looked almost like a photograph. However, Janet didn't see herself as a photorealist. She believed her paintings showed the world through a painter's eyes, not a camera's lens. Her unique use of color and composition made her art truly her own.

A Dedicated Artist's Career

After finishing her studies at Yale, Janet Fish moved to SoHo in New York City. She became friends with other artists there.

Janet also shared her knowledge by teaching art. She was an instructor at several well-known schools. These included the School of Visual Arts and Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. She also taught at Syracuse University and the University of Chicago.

Janet Fish was deeply dedicated to her art. She focused on her painting career throughout her life. In her later years, she lived and painted in her SoHo loft and at her farmhouse in Middletown Springs, Vermont.

Honored for Her Art

Janet Fish's art was highly praised by many people. Art critic Gerrit Henry called her a "master of the contemporary still life." The New York Times said her paintings helped bring realism back into art in the 1970s. They noted she gave everyday objects a "bold optical and painterly energy." Another critic, Vincent Katz, agreed that she revitalized the still-life genre.

Even famous painter Eric Fischl admired Janet Fish. He called her "one of the most interesting realists of her generation." He said her work was very important and influenced many other artists.

Janet Fish received many awards and honors for her amazing work. Some of these include:

• MacDowell Fellowship (1968, 1969, 1972)
• Harris Award, Chicago Biennale (1974)
• Australia Council for Arts Grant (1975)
• Elected into the National Academy of Design (1990)
• Hubbard Museum Award (1991)
• Aspen Art Museum Woman in Arts Award (1993)
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Award (1994)
• Smith College Medal (2012)

Her beautiful paintings are now part of the permanent collections in many important museums and institutions around the world.