A Message from the Fieg Family Association President

It is with immense pleasure and gratitude that I announce the donation to the family from Doris Fieg Holm of a precious family treasure which she has carefully guarded for many decades.

I am speaking of what by virtually any measure should be considered the late Herman Fieg's ultimate masterpiece, an oil painting on wood depicting a herd of sheep imperilled by horses.


This spectacular creation, which we believe in all probability was painted from life when Herman crossed the American continent in the late 1800s on his way to the Pacific Coast, depicts an historic scene vaguely reminiscent of those painted by the renowned New England water colorist and oil painter Winslow Homer,  who travelled the American west during the same general period.

The unveiling of this work will be the highlight of the Fieg Family Reunion in August, so I urge you all be to there to see it.  It will be the keystone of conversation when the family addresses the dispensation of various family artifacts,  mementos and heirlooms in an effort to see that they are passed down to safe and loving hands in generations to come.

Herman's paintings are among the few we have with which to remember him, as his three brothers Carl, Frederick and Lothar Fieg lost contact with him when he disappeared into the wilds of Australia well over 100 years ago. (It is interesting to note that Diana Fieg Monaco has established an Internet alert whenever the name Fieg is published on the worldwide web and many of these occurrences are linked to Australia.)

Doris has given this irreplaceable heirloom to Susan Fieg Williams in Chicago, who is now the sole arbiter of how and when it will be passed on.  She is agreeable to the idea of exhibiting it permanently, as are Maxine Fieg Whiteside and various other family members who have been polled unofficially. 

I plan to make contact with museum officials and other potential exhibitors in the Cooperstown area later this month to see whether there is interest in adding the painting to local collections deemed appropriate and thematically correct for inclusion.

Doris has invested more than $500 to restore and ship this gift.  Please join me in thanking her profusely.

                                                                                 Greg Fieg, President