Ruth Fischer (1913)

Ruth Fischer was born in 1913 to a Jewish family in Hamburg, but was of Czech nationality. Fischer got her interest in art from her father's side. She attended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg, where she learned many free art techniques, such as painting, drawing and watercolors. However, her education was cut short when the Nazi regime banned all Jews from attending public schools. Fischer went to a private school to further develop his skills in drawing and painting. When the threat of Hitler's regime became too great, her parents and sister moved to the Netherlands in 1933. Fischer followed her family in 1939 . . In Amsterdam, Fischer again started with a new education, this time at the Nieuwe Kunstschool. When the war broke out, she had to abort it too. It was not easy to get money as a person in hiding, so she accepted all kinds of things. She designed fabrics and painted, among other things, brooches, wooden napkin rings and ties. Again she took private lessons at artists' homes, including Cas Oorthuys (1908-1975), Lex Metz (1913-1986), Dick Elffers (1910-1990) and Walter Weinberg.
Fischer focused on illustrating and made drawings as well as linoleum cuts: She worked for publishers (Querido, Moussault, Van Oorschot and Noordhoff) and printers (Spruijt and Eijkelenboom), but also newspapers (Tagblatt, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Het Parool) and magazines (Delta and Goed Wonen). Fischer gave evening lessons in drawing and watercolor painting to students of the Rietveld Academy and to children of artist friends. She also had private clients who wanted to have something designed once, such as the director of the Bijenkorf. He commissioned her to make menu cards, and Benno Premsela (1920-1997) ordered New Year's cards, which Fischer printed himself. Fischer found clients through membership of the Dutch Circle of Illustrators (NKvT), the Gevangen Kunstfederatie (GKf) and the Professional Association of Visual Artists (BBK). Personal contacts, such as with Stedelijk Museum director Willem Sandberg (1897-1984) and other museum directors, were also important. Fischer had a long career as an illustrator, but gave up in the 1970s. Instead, she turned to free painting, where she literally had the freedom to express herself as she saw fit. Fischer's free work was purchased by various museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem, the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Museum Boymans van Beuningen and the Cobra Museum in Amstelveen. In addition, exhibitions of her work are regularly organized in the Netherlands and abroad.