One of the pinnacle moments of sportfishing, a gentleman angler challenges a Blue Fin Marlin upon the open ocean. This is an extremely early sportfishing image, from the very first decade of when such an activity was viewed as a leisure recreation. With his profession as a a premier illustrator inspiring his original art works, Anton Otto Fischer chose to portray the event underway but far from over, allowing the spectacle to catch our eye and imagination. The enthusiastic support of the man at the fisherman's side is tempered with awe at the sight of the huge fish strike.
Fischer, a popular and successful illustrator, was a favored artist by many of the men who worked on the seas, as his artistic methods and brushwork often emphasized the challenges faced by the men working on the oceans. He has caught it well enough here, with the man's foot braced again the rounded stern rail from within the deep cockpit, seated firmly in his fishing chair. The dress nature of the man clearly states that he is wealthy, while the grisaille medium indicates that this was most likely the original image for a publication. No casual or accidental catch, fishing for marlin in the 1930s makes this man a pioneer angler. It is likely a depiction of Fischer himself, then a resident of Coconut Grove, Florida; not only does the image look very much like the artist, but he is known to have posed for photographs to inspire his detailed figures in many paintings, and was an avid fisherman.
