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<\/p>\nCreated: Apr 22, 2026 07:56 AM (Updated: Apr 22, 2026 08:43 AM)<\/p>\n
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Trailblazer: Janet Fish, photographed in the 1970s by Susan Gray (Photograph supplied)<\/p>\n
The closing of Janet Fish: Time and Place, the exhibition at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, was marked by the world premiere of Paul McGuire\u2019s film, Janet Fish: Catching the Light.<\/p>\n
Fish, who died in December 2025<\/a>, shortly after the exhibit opened<\/a>, was best known for her radiant still-lifes, complex compositions and energetic brushwork. In his film, McGuire captured the same sense of immediacy, drawing on interviews, archival images, and glimpses of her studios.<\/p>\n The film, which was screened for an audience of more than 50 people on April 16, was followed by a discussion with the film-maker, McGuire; Kara Gilmour, director of the Janet Fish Foundation; and Sara Thom, co-curator of the Masterworks exhibit.<\/p>\n Gilmour said the timing of the documentary was \u201cincredibly poignant\u201d, as it coincided with Fish\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n As such, the film and the exhibition act as a fitting tribute to the artist, her work, and her impact on 20th-century art.<\/p>\n The film\u2019s strength comes from the description of her process by those closest to her. Interviews include her husband, Charles Parness, former studio assistants and fellow artists.<\/p>\n Their voices convey the artist\u2019s intense focus on achieving the luminous effects of light and glass, as well as the human spirit in her later figurative paintings.<\/p>\n Melissa Messina, of DC Moore Gallery, which represented Fish, described for the film the energy Fish brought to her still-life paintings.<\/p>\n \u201cHer colour started from growing up in this intensely colourful tropical island,\u201d said Moore. \u201cIt was in her DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the works on display in Janet Fish: Place In Time at Masterworks (File photograph by Blaire Simmons)<\/p>\n The documentary underscores Bermuda\u2019s role in Fish\u2019s beginnings through archival photographs of her childhood at Cluster Cottage and footage showing the arrival of Fish\u2019s paintings at Masterworks.<\/p>\n As her works were unpacked and installed in the gallery, the viewer sees how the dynamic colour and energetic brushwork of her paintings were returning to the origin of her vision.<\/p>\n McGuire explained how significant her vision was. \u201cTo understand who [Fish] was, you have to consider she was a trailblazer \u2026 she didn\u2019t listen to the crowd. She was exploding with creativity and was able to follow her own instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n Gilmour agreed. Her connection to the artist dates back decades, when she was growing up in Vermont and Fish was her mother\u2019s best friend.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you got Janet\u2019s attention, you felt like the sun was shining on you,\u201d she recalled. She is incredibly present in the film and in her paintings, she said, \u201cbecause she was a very present person.\u201d<\/p>\n Fish transferred that intensity to her still-life paintings, as many interviewed for the film described.<\/p>\n One assistant reflected, \u201cShe just brought life to anything she painted.\u201d<\/p>\n In part, that comes from her focus on luminosity, how light plays over reflective surfaces, vividly coloured objects, and layers of transparency.<\/p>\n Her assistants recount how, after carefully constructing a still-life from her store of objects, she would consider how light operated.<\/p>\n Then, she undertook the painting by concentrating on one part of the still-life at a time, whichever area was illuminated by the sun coming through the window. She was chasing the light, capturing its presence.<\/p>\n Although the panoply of Fish\u2019s compositions will depart Masterworks, some will stay behind. Masterworks recently acquired Parakeet and Tropical Fruit from 1991.<\/p>\n For those who were unable to attend the exhibit on the island, it will now travel to several venues in the US, bringing the exhibit and its attention to Bermuda\u2019s light to new audiences.<\/p>\n The film, Janet Fish: Catching the Light, will be available, too, in the near future.<\/p>\n According to McGuire, after its run at international film festivals in the upcoming months, it will appear elsewhere on public television or streaming sites.<\/p>\n Fish\u2019s death was a deeply felt loss for the American art world. Thanks to the travelling exhibit and the film, however, her striking presence will endure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Created: Apr 22, 2026 07:56 AM (Updated: Apr 22, 2026 08:43 AM) Trailblazer: Janet Fish, photographed in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,31479,498,499,500,501,156,31480,111,139,69,763,13172],"class_list":{"0":"post-392478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-general","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-masterworks-museum-of-bermuda-art","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-reviews","20":"tag-spotlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776881058_0_.jpeg\")
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