Ernest Fiene (German-American, 1894-1965) was a painter, muralist, illustrator, printmaker and teacher known for his landscapes, portraits, genre scenes, cityscapes, marine scenes, frescoes/murals, etchings, lithographs and book illustrations. Ernest Fiene was born on November 2, 1894 in Elberfeld, Germany to Henry and Maria Fiene. He came to the United States in 1912 and studied at the National Academy of Design from 1914-1918 and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design from 1916-1918. He continued his study of printmaking at the Art Students’ League in NYC.
In 1921, he married Jeannette Etarre and in 1923, he had his first solo show at the Whitney Studio Club. The show was successful, and he secured an art dealer. His work was decidedly modern, depicting modern life and industry through color and shape through precisionism. In 1927, Fiene became a naturalized citizen and from 1928-1929 he studied in Paris at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. In 1932, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship which allowed him to study mural painting in Italy and in the 1930s his work was exhibited and sold as lithographs through the Associated American Artists' (AAA) mail-order catalogs for $5 each. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. In 1935, he taught at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in the summer and through his association with AAA, Fiene was hired in 1940, along with eight other prominent American artists, to document dramatic scenes and characters during the production of the film The Long Voyage Home, a cinematic adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's plays.
In 1945, Fiene divorced his first wife and married Alicia Wiencek (1918–1961) on August 13, 1945, who was one of his students at the Arts Students’ League. By 1948, Fiene re-established his relationship with the Art Students’ League where he returned to teach classes in painting and drawing. In 1948, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1952. In the 1950s, he also served on the faculty of the Famous Artists School in Westport, CT. Fiene died of a heart attack in Paris, France on August 10, 1965.
(Rewritten in parts by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts, Inc., East Aurora, NY, 14052, sources: Wikipedia.com; AskArt.com, prior biographical submissions by David Cook Galleries and David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art.)
