Bill Fisher, formerly of Mousehole

You have got Me looking now.
This one in Barbara Kirk auctions Penzance in January 2021. A Bull by BIll Fisher?
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/barbara-kirk-auctions/catalogue-id-srbar10069/lot-4b772b60-ebc9-49e4-af0b-acae010ed055

yes I have a very similar one

My turn next ...

Hoarder!

How big is your collection now Dan?  I thought you had pared it back somewhat over the years?   Some Very nice pieces  there!

It's still biggish but not hoardish
I sold over a hundred pots and gave the same to charity so, between my pottery room and my garage, it's under control

You have a Special Pottery Room? That sounds interesting.

it's just like any normal room Phil but solely for displaying pottery.

Pair of Bill Fisher bulls 6”

Oh WOW. Those are great. Quite different to his normal ones, but still clearly Bill's.
Are these Your's, Where did they turn up?

Found them yesterday in an antiques barn in Berkshire. Just labelled studio pottery bull :)

Lucky You.
And so nice that they have stayed together all these years and not been split up.

Evening everyone,  
New to the forum but have to say,
what a pleasant surprise to find this group of enthisuasts for a seemingly not very well known artist such as William 'Bill' Fisher.
Only discovered him after seeing one of his self portraits in Salts Mill, Shipley.
I had to have it! The colours and painting style are what drew me in then after doing some research, my partner and I only appreciate the painting even more!
An Interesting piece, for sure

Here is a photo if anyone has some info on it, it would be great!

Thanks!

I have seen a few of Bill's self-portraits and yours is by far the best Liam

a very nice find

Very nice portrait

As the info on this painting is freely available online in past Auctions, I'll add it here for peoples interest (I'm sure mods will remove if not allowed)

Size: 59cm x 51.5cm
Hand written on the back "Painting by William Fisher Mousehole 1960"
Two Exhibition labels stuck on the back:
     1 - R. Jackson & Sons, Exhibition Agents.
     2 - The John Moores Liverpool Exhibition  1961
           Artist: William Henry Fisher
           Address: The Studio, Wharf Cottage, Mousehole
           Medium: Oil.
           Signed by Bill.

Liam1288 wrote:

My latest find.
Found this in online Auction hiding behind other items at the back of a shelf, in a general 'tat' lot. I was the only bidder
I have seen 1 other photo of the same type of horse, but the surface decoration was different and I think the whole thing not quite a crisp as this one. So there are others out there!




With the rest of my Zoo for size


How I found it (hope I'm allowed to post this?)

Lucky you. That is nice, must be quite rare.

Nice 

I love the mermaid art

dantheman wrote:Today I found an old auction catalogue describing a 13.5 inch terracotta lion, originally purchased in St Ives and made by Bill when he worked alongside the sculptor Dennis Mitchell

I've been in contact with the estate of Denis Mitchell about this - via the website on him.
Stewart, who runs the website has contacted the 3 daughters of Denis and no one has any memory of Denis & Bill working together.
He says Denis moved his studio to Newlyn in 1967.
So he was close by when Bill & Maggie parted - so it's not impossible.
But if they did work together, it must have been very briefly.

But for now, I think we need to be careful about this attribution. Auction houses get things wrong and owners memories can play tricks.

Going through my own archives, I found I already have this auction listing saved.
To be precise it says "This item was purchased by the vendor's family in St Ives ...."

So given that Denis moved to Newlyn in 1967, that would mean Bill would have had to have worked 'alongside' him earlier than this - when we know he was working in Mousehole. As far as I know, Bill & Maggi moved to Mousehole directly from London. So it does seem unlikely that they worked 'alongside' each other.

As this Lion was being sold by a family member of the original purchaser, I suspect this is just confusion/half remembered facts.

Assuming that the 'purchased in St. Ives' is correct. I wonder if this could have actually been bought from a craft shop selling both their wares alongside each other. I thought possibly the Sloop Craft Market in St. Ives, which we know sold items by a range of local potters such as Leaper, as well as the Tremaen pottery ?? But Stewart from the Denis Mitchell web site doesn't think Denis sold from there, so it likely to be somewhere else?

I'm not saying this is what happened, but I think it is looking more likely.

After years of searching, I've now found out the year Bill died - 2014.
I've found this Funeral Notice site which has an obituary published 27/11/2014 and says bill was 98yrs
https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/fisher/4189871

So William (Bill) Fisher - BORN c. 16th April 1916.  DIED Apr - Nov. 2014.

If anyone has a more precise date, please share it.

Curiously, this is the same year that Maggi died, 8/9th Jan 2014. (this says 8th Jan, but an earlier Canadian obituary said 9th Jan).
(although this site seems to have a typo in the obituary as it says 2013, but was published in 2014
https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/fisher/3034501

Maggi Fisher BORN 28th May 1935.  DIED 8/9th Jan. 2014.

Would it be worth a mod pinning this to the start of this thread, so people don't have to search for this info?