Rowland Fisher

Rowland Fisher (1885–1969)

Born in Gorleston he was a marine and landscape painter in oil and watercolour and ship modeller, the son of a master mariner he originally wanted to go to sea but instead worked at Jewson & Sons timber yard in Great Yarmouth for 50 years and painted in his spare time.

Gorleston was at this time a hub for artists, Rowland’s contemporaries included Campbell Archibald Mellon (1876-1955) and John Alfred Arnesby-Brown (1866-1955) who preceded Rowland Fisher as President of the Great Yarmouth and District Society of Artists, He became president of the Society and was a member of the RSMA from 1938, later joined the ROI and St Ives Society of Artists in Cornwall, and exhibited at RA, RBA, RI and RWS as well as on the continent.

His work reflected the tranquillity and hostility of the sea, A large collection of his more vigorous pictures hangs in the James Paget Hospital at Gorleston.