Ellsworth Kelly Blue Green Black Red, 1996

BOB FISHER: Ellsworth Kelly’s a personal favorite of my mom’s as a person.

 DORIS FISHER:  He is just the loveliest, loveliest gentleman.  I talked to him quite frequently on the phone.  Ellsworth has an eye like you would not believe. We collected prints from ‘73 until ‘79, and the first unique piece we bought in 1979.

JOHN FISHER: My name’s John Fisher. I am the youngest son of Doris and Don Fisher. In the case of Ellsworth Kelly, he was an artist that my parents both loved. My mother I think loved the geometric forms, the beauty of the pieces themselves, and truly appreciated the sort of optimism that came from Ellsworth Kelly’s pieces. And for my father, it was in many respects, how much they sort of gripped you, in their elegant simplicity.

The relationship between my parents and Ellsworth was truly one of a remarkable friendship. My mother would talk to him on a frequent basis about family. He took a genuine interest in them as people, not just them as collectors. And in fact, when my father turned 70 years old, we commissioned Ellsworth to do some portraits of him because we thought, that of all the artists that they connected with, they had such a close personal relationship with him that he would love doing it. It was a combination of sort of abstraction with my dad. And my dad loved it.