Bacon, Peggy (american, 1895-1987). BILL FISHER (WILLIAM MURREL FISHER). Pencil on brown paper, titled "Bill Fisher," lower right, unsigned and undated drawing, annotated "168A," lower left. There is an unrelated drawing, verso. 6 7/8 x 5 5/8 inches. Provenance: the estate of the artist's son Alexander "Sandy" Brook. In excellent condition.William Murrell Fisher, 1889-1969, emigrated from England to the United States in 1905. He worked as a clerk in the paintings department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, until he developed tuberculosisand had to leave. He moved to Woodstock NY in 1917, and became a friend of Peggy Bacon and Alexander Brook. He authored books on Brook and on Yasuo Kuniyoshi for the Young American Artists series, and had a career as a scholar, journalist, and critic.The following are from interviews with Peggy Bacon in 1973, and with Alexander Brook in 1977 for the Archives of American Art:Bacon: BACON STATED: "HE WAS AN ENGLISHMAN WHO CAME TO THIS COUNTRY, OH, I DON'T KNOW WHEN. HE LIVED IN WOODSTOCK. WHEN ALEX AND I WERE STUDENTS THERE, WE GOT TO KNOW HIM AND A GREAT FRIEND OF HIS, HAROLD WARD. OH, I REMEMBER-BILL FISHER HAD BEEN A CUSTODIAN OF PAINTINGS AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM. HE WORKED DOWN IN THE BASEMENT. HE HAD CONTRACTED TB AND WAS NOT GIVEN LONG TO LIVE. HE WAS TOLD THAT HE MUST GET OUT OF THE CITY AND LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS, SO HE WENT UP TO WOODSTOCK. THE MET GAVE HIM SOME MUNIFICENT SUM OF ...HE'D BEEN WORKING FOR THEM FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS AND THEY GAVE HIM SOME TERRIFIC SOME LIKE TWENTY DOLLARS A MONTH PENSION, SOMETHING VERY GENEROUS. FOR A DYING PERSON FOR ALL HIS LIFE THINKING THAT HE HAD ONLY TWO YEARS TO LIVE, YOU SEE. OTHERWISE THEY PROBABLY WOULDN'T....WELL, ANYWAY, HE LIVED AND LIVED AND LIVED. I THINK HE DIED TWO YEARS AGO. BUT WHEN WE WERE IN WOODSTOCK IN 1919 WE GOT TO KNOW BILL FISHER. HE BROUGHT OUT TWO LITTLE ART BOOKS IN THE AMERICAN ARTISTS SERIES. OH, HE BROUGHT OUT MORE THAN THAN THAT. HE BROUGHT OUT ONE ON ALEX [BROOKS] ONE ON KUNIYOSHI, AND ON VARIOUS YOUNG ARTISTS. HE BROUGHT OUT ONE ON ME BUT I HAVEN'T GOT A COPY. HE WAS A DELIGHTFUL PERSON, VERY AMUSING, QUITE WITTY. BUT I THIINK HE WAS ONE OF THOSE WRITERS THAT EXPEND THEMSELVES IN CONVERSATION. HE JUST NEVER PRODUCED ANYTHING. HE NEVER FINISHED ANYTHING. HE DID FINALLY WROTE ONE LITTLE BOOK THAT GOT INTO PRINT. IT WAS CALLED THE HISTORY OF TOADYISM. IT WAS A BIT OF THING. AFTER THAT HE WAS ALWAYS WORKING SOMETHING, ON SOME BOOK, BUT IT NEVER TRANSPIRED UNTIL THE WHITENY MUSEUM CAME ALONG AND GAVE HIM THE JOB OF COLLECTING WRITING ABOUT THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN CAROONS AND CARICATURE. AND THAT CAME OUT IN TWO VOLUMES. REALLY ITS VERY LITTLE MORE THAN A CATALOGUE. BUT IT HAD ALL THESE REPRODUCTIONS AND WAS QUITE WELL BROUGHT OUT.Brook: REGARDING COPYING AT THE MET - "IN THOSE DAYS YOU HAD TO TAKE YOUR COPY DOWN TO THE BASEMENT AND HAVE IT CHECKED IN. AND DOWN THERE WAS A MAN BY THE NAME OF WILLIAM FISHER, A TALL BEARDED MAN TEN YEARS OLDER THAN I, HE WAS A SPASTIC. HE AND I BECAME FRIENDS, I DISCOVERED THAT HE WAS A VERY, VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE MAN. HE DIED NOT TOO LONG AGO. I FORGET WHERE HE LIVED [IN NYC] BUT I HAD BEEN THERE MANY TIMES. I THOUGHT HE LIVED IN GUILFORD, CT., AND AFTER I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY YEARS, BY THE MEREST ACCIDENT A MUTUAL FRIEND LIVING IN CALIFORNIA WROTE ME AND HE SAID I OCCASIONALLY HEAR FROM BILL FISHER IN MILFORD, CT. YOU SEE, I HAD GOTTEN THE NAMES OF THE TOWNS MIXED UP, THEY ARE CLOSE TO EACH OTHER.. SO I LOOKED HIM UP AND WE TOOK UP OUR FRIENDSHIP WHERE WE LEFT OFF. IT WAS A VERY THRILLING EXPERIENCE. WE ENJOYED THIS FOR ABOUT TEN YEARS BEFORE HE DIED. A MAN GAVE HIM A HOUSE IN WOODSTOCK TO LIVE, THAT WAS 1917. HE INVITED ME TO COME AND STAY WITH HIM AND I DID. THEN HE GOT MARRIED. HE WROTE UNDER THE NAME WILLIAM MURRELL.
