Anton Otto Fischer: Maritime Artist

Anton Otto Fischer was born in Munich, Germany on February 23, 1882. Orphaned at an early age he ran away to sea. He worked for a time as an assistant to artist A.B. Frost. This experience inspired Fischer to take up the study of art at the Academie Julianne in Paris in 1906. In 1908 Fischer moved to Wilmington Delaware to study under Howard Pyle. By 1910, he had a promising career illustrating stories by Jack London. Fischer produced thousands of illustrations over his career in all types of subjects but he is best known for his paintings of maritime scenes. He served as an official war artist for the United States Coast Guard in World War II. He continued to work into the 1950's. Anton Otto Fischer died on March 26, 1962.

Below are Fischer's illustration for Herman Melville's epic novel, Moby Dick. This edition was published by the John C. Winston Co. in 1931.