International studio (25.1905)

He has etched landscapes almost exclusively.
Visits to Hessia and Holland furnished him sparely
with subjects for his needle ; but repeated trips to
the Island of Riigen, and a journey to Bornholm
in the Baltic, besides the country round about
Dresden, offered a great number of congenial
themes. Of the earlier work, three little plates
of Riigen seem to me the most successful. ' Rarely
do etchings combine all the virtues of true style,
rarely are they so entirely free from pandering to
vulgar tastes as these. They are a pleasure to
look at simply as examples of a superb line decora-
tion, even before we attempt to appreciate their
beauty of conception and draughtsmanship. These
were executed as early as 1896. The plates done,
in 1901, at Bornholm are more ambitious, but hardly
superior in quality. It is only quite recently that
Fischer may be said to have surpassed those Riigen
etchings. We may admit this much, however, with
regard to his two large dry-point landscapes. They
are indeed masterly productions, betraying an abso-
lute command over and most intimate knowledge of
his material. The burr has been made bearer of a
most powerful effect, and although quite different

from any plate Whistler ever did, there is this
similarity between them and Whistler's best
work, that neither artist ever uses a single line
thoughtlessly. There is no meaningless zigzag
or other amateurish effort to fill up a plate.
This is masterly technique, but the nobility of
conception apparent is to be ranked still higher.
It is rare for an artist to extract with as happy a
success as in this case the essence of nature, to
resist the seductive beckonings which would lead
him away to realism. A landscape as seen by
Fischer is stripped of all casual appearance inci-
dent to it perhaps only on one particular day, and
it presents only those features that are its lasting
characteristics. On the other hand, it is by no
means a hollow abstraction out of which the life-
blood has been sucked during the process of purifica-
tion. He simplifies, but he does not systematise
It is the primary feature of Fischer's power as an
artist that he is able to present us with a picture of
nature which is clearly recognisable as such, and
yet utterly dispenses with all the petty ephemeral,
photographic detail upon which others base their
endeavours to attain "likeness."


"A LAKE IN THE SILESIAN RIESENGEBIRGE" FROM THE TASTEI. DRAWING BY OTTO FISCHER

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