Janet fish:
catching light
The Janet Fish Foundation is excited to announce the release of Janet Fish: Catching Light, the first documentary celebrating the extraordinary life and work of exquisite American painter Janet Fish (1938-2025). Featuring interviews with fellow artists, gallerists, curators, friends and never before seen archival images from Janet’s studio and life, this film offers an intimate glimpse into Janet’s exploration of light.
Janet Fish: Place in Time
on tour 2025-2028
Red and Green Dishes Monarda, 2007, oil on canvas. Collection of Ellen Noël Art Museum (Museum purchase, in honor of Ellen Witwer Noël, 2009)
Janet Fish: Place in Time surveys the career of eminent American artist Janet Fish (1938–2025), who for over five decades translated her personal experiences and visual perceptions into luminous paintings that reimagine the historical genre of still life. Featuring paintings, works on paper, and selected objects, the exhibition traces the evolution of an artist who forged an independent path within postwar American art through her singular ability to transform familiar domestic objects into radiant compositions informed by light, color, movement, and reflection.
From her formative years in Old Lyme, CT and the subtropical island of Bermuda to her mature practice in New York, Fish developed a distinctly personal vision, one committed to close observation of the world around her and the pleasures of looking. As her subjects expanded, her work continued to celebrate the fleeting interplay of light and time while inviting viewers to see the familiar with renewed attention. Together, Fish's life and remarkable body of work affirm her enduring legacy as one of America's most original painters, illuminating her lasting impact as a contemporary artist who expanded the expressive possibilities of still life.
This exhibition is the first major museum survey of the artist's work following her death in 2025. Premiering in Bermuda before traveling to museums throughout the U.S. from 2026 to 2028, the exhibition offers audiences an opportunity to experience the breadth of Fish's artistic vision while celebrating her enduring place in the history of American art.
Janet Fish: Place in Time is organized in collaboration with the Janet Fish Foundation, Inc. The exhibition originated at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art and is co-curated by Dr. Sara Thom and Melissa Messina.
on view now
Ellen Noël Art Museum
September 10, 2026 - January 3, 2027
UPCOMING
Hunter Museum of American Art
January 29, 2027 - May 3 2027
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
May 26, 2027 - September 5 2027
Huntsville Museum of Art
September 24, 2027 - February 13, 2028
Florence Griswold Museum
February 26, 2028 - May 21, 2028
Janet Fish
1938 - 2025
Janet Fish Foundation is profoundly saddened to announce that exquisite painter Janet Fish (1938-2025) passed away on December 11th at her home in Vermont.