Fiscus+Art

=Fiscus Art = On this page you will find some of the work of Charles J. Fiscus:







The two pen and ink illustrations above, in addition to the charcoal drawing (and three others) by Fiscus, came to be in my possession approximately eighteen years ago when my grandmother gave me what I thought was just a very cheap, and very ugly, framed copy of the Currier & Ives Four Seasons. The four 5x7 prints had been pasted on to a bright orange piece of poster board and placed in a hideous, lime-green frame trimmed in gold. At any rate, three years ago (2005), I finally decided to take the “art” down from my wall and try to sell the piece in a yard sale. When my dad asked me if he could have the frame for one of his “projects,” I happily obliged him.

A few days later, my dad took the frame apart and immediately unveiled the four charcoal drawings behind the backing. On further inspection, I discovered that what appeared to be one piece of bright orange poster board was actually two that had been glued together. After pulling them apart, I uncovered the two pen and ink illustrations and a typed excerpt from Wilber Peat’s book, //Pioneer Painters of Indiana//, with a note that reads: “Charles Fiscus was my mother’s first cousin and after his father left (bailed out, deserted, or what not) he and his mother (Jenny) came to live in the Springer house which then consisted of Matty and Myra (neither married), and the father of all three, David Springer, who made the wood carvings and the original layout for Rising Sun, Indiana. There were two sons: David Wallace and Edward both married.”

 On September 08, 2007, Tim Luke (Former director of the collectibles department for Christy's Auction House in New York, former //Antiques Roadshow// appraiser, and current appraiser for //Cash in the Attic//) viewed and appraised "Wide Awake" and "A Dream of Elfland" by Charles Joseph Fiscus while he was at the Lanier-Madison Visitors Center in Madison, Indiana.

- Michael R. Ellis





==== "Many thoughts go through my mind as I look at Fiscus. First, the quality of his work is very high and thus his early death is an even greater tragedy. Second, in terms of style, he is a young artist experimenting to find his own particular voice. Stone Cabin is very close to the Realist style of the French artist Francois Millet. However, looking at his work overall, I see a blending of realism mixed with fantasy that suggests he must have been inspired by the English Pre-Raphaelites. Most especially, compare A Dream of Elfand and Wide Awake to work by Richard Dadd (whose best known work is The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke, c. 1864.) Lastly, Michael, you seem to be in the possession of three of his finest surviving works. I think whoever put them behind the frame recognized their quality and sought in that way to preserve them for the future." Dr. John Martin, Professor of Art History, Hanover College, July 8, 2014 ====