Mary Ellen Sigsbee Fischer

Mary Ellen Sigsbee (1876–1960), was an American artist and magazine illustrator.

Early life

Sigsby was born in New Orleans, on February 26, 1876, one of four daughters of Charles D. Sigsbee, who had been captain of the USS Maine during the Spanish-American War.

Career

Sigsbee studied at the Arts Students League. One of her paintings was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1908 - a feat archived by few American women.

A feminist and suffragist, Sisgbee designed posters for the American Woman Suffrage Association. One of which, What breaks up the home? What will save the home? Votes for Women (circa 1917), is in the privately-held Ann Lewis Women's Suffrage Collection.

From 1909 to 1917, and from 1930 to 1932, she made illustrations for the Evening Journal. Her painting, The Christmas Peek, was used as the Christmas 1934 cover of the Saturday Evening Post. She also produced work for Harper's Magazine.

A copy of her print, "The new hand", is in the National Child Labor Committee Collection of the United States Library of Congress.

Personal life

Sigsbee was married twice. His first marriage was to William Balfour Ker, a fellow socialist. The marriage was conducted against her father's wishes, after an 1898 elopement. They first lived in Greenwich Village, but after a period working in Paris, the marriage failed and they divorced in 1910. They had a son, David (1906–1922).

In 1912 she married Anton Otto Fischer. They first lived in Bushnellsville, New York before moving to a house near the intersection of Elmendorf Street and Ten Broeck Avenue in nearby Kingston (the house still stands). they had a daughter, Katrina Sigsbee Fischer (1914–1998). The family eventually settled into a house off Glasco Turnpike in Woodstock, New York just prior to World War II.

Both husbands were also artists and all three were former students of Howard Pyle. Her son David was adopted by Fischer. During her marriages she used the names Sigsbee Ker and Sigsbee Fischer.

Sigsbee died in 1960, at Woodstock.