Skip to main content

Olga Fisch Sculptures

Ecuadorian, Hungarian, 1901-1990

Despite her Hungarian roots, artist Olga Fisch is remembered as the “mother of Ecuadorian folk art” due to her love of Ecuador’s art and culture. Best known for her vibrant rug designs and tapestries, Fisch contributed greatly to promoting Ecuadorian folk art abroad and introducing the country’s traditions and heritage to the world. 

Born in Budapest in 1901, Fisch became interested in art at an early age. In her youth, she collected Hungarian folk crafts and was keen on becoming a painter. 

In the 1920s, Fisch studied realist painting at an art school in Düsseldorf, Germany. There, she met her first husband, the sculptor Jupp Rübsam, and the couple moved to Vienna, Austria, where she worked as a ceramics designer. Following their divorce, Fisch grew unsettled by the burgeoning anti-Semitism in pre-World War II Germany. After she married for a second time, Fisch and her husband traveled to Morocco, Eritrea, Italy and the United States before receiving asylum status in Ecuador in 1939.

Settling in Quito, Fisch became enamored with traditional Ecuadorian folk art and returned to her childhood hobby of collecting crafts — everything from pottery and hand-carved wood sculptures to colorful textiles. Fisch’s sizable collection prompted her to open a gallery, called Folklore, in 1942. However, what she considered beautiful art was regarded by others as crude.

“When I first started collecting the local Indian art and then opened this gallery, people were shocked,” she said in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor. “I remember someone asking, ‘How can you, as a cultured European woman, collect this trash?’” Nevertheless, Fisch’s collection soon garnered international attention and acclaim.

In the 1940s, Fisch began designing folk art-inspired rugs, hand-woven by indigenous Ecuadorian weavers. One rug caught the eye of acclaimed writer Lincoln Kirstein, then curator of New York’s Museum of Modern Art; he commissioned her to create a rug for the museum’s collection. Over the years, Fisch also made rugs for the United Nations Headquarters and the Metropolitan Opera

Fisch returned to Hungary in 1987 to visit family members who had survived the Nazi regime. She later came back to Quito, where she died in 1990. 

Today, Fisch’s legacy lives on through the Olga Fisch Folklore brand, store and museum, which still operates in Quito. Her works are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Textile Museum in Washington, DC.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Olga Fisch rugs and other art.

to
3
3
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
3
2
7
396
232
225
131
3
3
Artist: Olga Fisch
Vintage Handwoven Tapestry Wool, Metal Folk Art Rug Weaving Wall Hanging
By Olga Fisch
Located in Surfside, FL
Olga Fisch was born in Hungary, studied in Germany and lived in Morocco and Ethiopia before receiving asylum as a Jewish refugee in Ecuador in 1939. For her Indian-inspired designs, Mrs. Fisch uses natural black and white sheep...
Category

1950s Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wool

Vintage Handwoven Tapestry Wool Folk Art Rug Weaving Wall Hanging Olga Fisch
By Olga Fisch
Located in Surfside, FL
Olga Fisch ( American 1901-1990) Hummingbird and Pendant Flower, hand woven and stitched wool and sequins, signed lower right. Dimensions: 58 x 32 in. Olga Fisch was born in Hungary, studied in Germany and lived in Morocco and Ethiopia before receiving asylum as a Jewish refugee in Ecuador in 1939. For her Indian-inspired designs, Mrs. Fisch uses natural black and white sheep...
Category

20th Century Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wool

Vintage Handwoven Tapestry Wool, Metal Folk Art Rug Weaving Wall Hanging
By Olga Fisch
Located in Surfside, FL
Olga Fisch was born in Hungary, studied in Germany and lived in Morocco and Ethiopia before receiving asylum as a Jewish refugee in Ecuador in 1939. For her Indian-inspired designs, Mrs. Fisch uses natural black and white sheep's wool colored with vegetable dye. To make one of her 9 by 12 rugs requires four weavers working eight hours a day for six weeks. Desiring to furnish her home with Ecuadorian-inspired rugs, she adapted designs from Indian pottery and tapas, sheets of native bark cloth. Taking the designs to Indian rugmakers, she had them woven into deep pile. Olga Fisch was respected both for her own art and for her collection of folk art. The folk art-inspired rugs she has designed can be admired, among other places, at the Museum of Modern Art, the United Nations Building, and the Metropolitan Opera House. Trained in the traditional German academic way in Dusseldorf in the 1920s, she is a painter of the realist school. Called the mother of Ecuadorian folk art, she discovered the beauty of Ecuadorian Indian textiles in the 1940s, when others regarded them as crude and worthless. Largely because of the efforts of Olga Fisch the artifacts produced by Ecuador's 250 Indian tribes are now highly regarded. Over the decades she has helped thousands of Indian artists and craftsmen acquire the means of placing their wares in the world market. In so doing she introduced their beauty to a once skeptical public. But when Mrs. Fisch first arrived in Quito as a Jewish refugee, she couldn't have guessed what direction her life would take. An artist who had studied painting in Dusseldorf, Germany, she managed to find work as a teacher in the Quito School...
Category

1950s Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wool

Related Items
Vasija Fusion / Ceramics Mexican Folk Art Mata Ortiz
By Hector Gallegos & Laura Bugarini
Located in Jesus del Monte, MX
FREE SHIPPING TO WORLDWIDE Artisan: Laura Bugarini Cota MASTERPIECE Carved polychrome jar painted with geometric design.   - Dimensions: 9" x 10" in...
Category

2010s Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic, Clay

Centaurea Blue
Located in Valencia, ES
Every artwork is hand-made and supported with a certificate of authenticity. Made in Spain, 2024. The frame is included. Package: protected cardboard box. Dispatching terms: 2-3 work...
Category

2010s Abstract Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Sandstone

Centaurea Blue
Centaurea Blue
H 13.59 in W 11.62 in D 0.99 in
Pair of Chinese Lamps with Carved Aventurine Phoenixes, Jade Finials, Cloisonné
Located in Austin, TX
This gorgeous and refined pair of Asian lamps has aventurine stone carvings. The blue base of the lamp, made of cloisonné, features floral designs. ...
Category

20th Century Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Stone, Brass, Enamel

19th Century Pair of Hand-Carved Hall Chairs from Mexico
Located in Troy, NY
These 19th Century hand-carved hall chairs from Mexico are reminiscent of a Renaissance style in the design of the faces of the angels and ornamentation. This native wood is walnut colored with a stain that gives the chairs a caramel glow. The cushions are upholstered in a, light yellow silk brocade fabric. There are pin-sized holes from an earlier exposure to termites, a desirable element in antique Mexican furniture...
Category

19th Century Renaissance Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Fabric, Wood, Mixed Media

KAWS - BFF - Plush Pink_limited edition
By KAWS
Located in Dallas, TX
This is a brand new piece in perfect condition. Several months after releasing the KAWS Share Figure in February, the artist released his long anticipated K...
Category

2010s Pop Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Fabric

KAWS - BFF - Plush Pink_limited edition
KAWS - BFF - Plush Pink_limited edition
Free Shipping
H 18 in W 10 in D 4 in
African art tribal maternity figure, Lobi peoples Ghana - Ivory Coast
Located in Norwich, GB
A delightful African maternity figure from the Lobi peoples of the Ivory Coast/Ghana. With a serene yet feisty expression, the mother is carry...
Category

Mid-20th Century Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wood

KAWS - Accomplice - Plush, 2023 - Edition of 2000, includes original box
By KAWS
Located in Dallas, TX
This is a new piece in perfect condition. KAWS is a New York-based artist and designer and one of the most popular living artists, known for his paintings, prints, sculptures, and ...
Category

2010s Pop Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Fabric, Cotton, Nylon

"Protector One" Folk Art Crow Sculpture
Located in Chicago, IL
Richly textured with whimsical appeal, this late 20th century wooden crow is a delightful example of naive American sculpture. Poised mid-caw, the crow's wings are outstretched, read...
Category

Late 20th Century Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Paint

"Indonesian Golek Puppet (Female), " Handmade Carved, Painted Wood & Fabric
Located in Milwaukee, WI
This Golek puppet was made by an unknown Indonesian artist using wood and cloth. It is approximately 24" tall. Traditional Wayang Golek plays can be comp...
Category

Early 20th Century Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wood, Textile

Mid Century Carved Figurative Girl and Kitten
By Rodney Winfield
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid century carved marble figurative girl and kitten by Rodney Marshall Winfield (American, b. 1925). Presented in rustic wood frame. Bio on verso. Image, 14"H x 10"W. Rodney studie...
Category

1960s Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Marble

Circular Wooden Box -- Breton Figure
Located in Troy, NY
This honey colored wooden box depicts a breton figure in traditional clothing. Brittany is the northwesternmost region of France, heavily influenced by Celtic culture and was a part ...
Category

20th Century Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Clay Sculpture in Pre-Colombian Style Reproduction
Located in Troy, NY
This work is made out of ceramic terracotta and is in a Pre-Columbian style. It is a reproduction of sculptures typically found in the Colima culture in western Mexico. These origina...
Category

1960s Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic, Terracotta

Previously Available Items
Vintage Handwoven Tapestry Wool Folk Art Rug Weaving Wall Hanging Olga Fisch
By Olga Fisch
Located in Surfside, FL
Olga Fisch was born in Hungary, studied in Germany and lived in Morocco and Ethiopia before receiving asylum as a Jewish refugee in Ecuador in 1939. For her Indian-inspired designs, Mrs. Fisch uses natural black and white sheep's wool colored with vegetable dye. To make one of her 9 by 12 rugs requires four weavers working eight hours a day for six weeks. Desiring to furnish her home with Ecuadorian-inspired rugs, she adapted designs from Indian pottery and tapas, sheets of native bark cloth. Taking the designs to Indian rugmakers, she had them woven into deep pile. Olga Fisch was respected both for her own art and for her collection of folk art. The folk art-inspired rugs she has designed can be admired, among other places, at the Museum of Modern Art, the United Nations Building, and the Metropolitan Opera House. Trained in the traditional German academic way in Dusseldorf in the 1920s, she is a painter of the realist school. Called the mother of Ecuadorian folk art, she discovered the beauty of Ecuadorian Indian textiles in the 1940s, when others regarded them as crude and worthless. Largely because of the efforts of Olga Fisch the artifacts produced by Ecuador's 250 Indian tribes are now highly regarded. Over the decades she has helped thousands of Indian artists and craftsmen acquire the means of placing their wares in the world market. In so doing she introduced their beauty to a once skeptical public. But when Mrs. Fisch first arrived in Quito as a Jewish refugee, she couldn't have guessed what direction her life would take. An artist who had studied painting in Dusseldorf, Germany, she managed to find work as a teacher in the Quito School...
Category

20th Century Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wool

Vintage Handwoven Tapestry Wool, Metal Folk Art Rug Weaving Wall Hanging
By Olga Fisch
Located in Surfside, FL
Olga Fisch was born in Hungary, studied in Germany and lived in Morocco and Ethiopia before receiving asylum as a Jewish refugee in Ecuador in 1939. For her Indian-inspired designs, Mrs. Fisch uses natural black and white sheep...
Category

1950s Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wool

Vintage Handwoven Tapestry Wool, Metal Folk Art Rug Weaving Wall Hanging
By Olga Fisch
Located in Surfside, FL
Olga Fisch was born in Hungary, studied in Germany and lived in Morocco and Ethiopia before receiving asylum as a Jewish refugee in Ecuador in 1939. For her Indian-inspired designs, Mrs. Fisch uses natural black and white sheep's wool colored with vegetable dye. To make one of her 9 by 12 rugs requires four weavers working eight hours a day for six weeks. Desiring to furnish her home with Ecuadorian-inspired rugs, she adapted designs from Indian pottery and tapas, sheets of native bark cloth. Taking the designs to Indian rugmakers, she had them woven into deep pile. Olga Fisch was respected both for her own art and for her collection of folk art. The folk art-inspired rugs she has designed can be admired, among other places, at the Museum of Modern Art, the United Nations Building, and the Metropolitan Opera House. Trained in the traditional German academic way in Dusseldorf in the 1920s, she is a painter of the realist school. Called the mother of Ecuadorian folk art, she discovered the beauty of Ecuadorian Indian textiles in the 1940s, when others regarded them as crude and worthless. Largely because of the efforts of Olga Fisch the artifacts produced by Ecuador's 250 Indian tribes are now highly regarded. Over the decades she has helped thousands of Indian artists and craftsmen acquire the means of placing their wares in the world market. In so doing she introduced their beauty to a once skeptical public. But when Mrs. Fisch first arrived in Quito as a Jewish refugee, she couldn't have guessed what direction her life would take. An artist who had studied painting in Dusseldorf, Germany, she managed to find work as a teacher in the Quito School...
Category

1950s Folk Art Olga Fisch Sculptures

Materials

Wool

Olga Fisch sculptures for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Olga Fisch sculptures available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Olga Fisch in fabric, wool and more. Not every interior allows for large Olga Fisch sculptures, so small editions measuring 25 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Fidel Martinez Martinez, Curtis Jeré, and Ross Bonfanti. Olga Fisch sculptures prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,800 and tops out at $1,800, while the average work can sell for $1,800.

Recently Viewed

View All