Louise Fishman, Abstract Painter Known for Gestural Works, Dies at 82

Louise Fishman, who passed away at the age of 82 on July 26, 2021, was accompanied by her partner Ingrid Nyeboe. Born in Philadelphia in 1939, she cultivated a unique abstract artistic style shaped by her background in athletics and her experiences as a lesbian artist confronting gender bias during the 1960s and 70s. Fishman pursued her education at the Philadelphia College of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Tyler School of Fine Arts, ultimately receiving her MFA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1965. Notable for her inclusion in the 1973 Whitney Biennial and the creation of the Angry Women Paintings, her Remembrance and Renewal series drew inspiration from a visit to Auschwitz in 1988. She achieved acclaim through exhibitions in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles while practicing Buddhism.