Painter, printmaker, and craftsman Otto Fischer was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1870. He studied at the Dresden Academy with a focus on lithography under Erwin Oehme, Friedrich Preller, Hermann Prell, and Konrad Starke. In 1896 he began a prolific professional career that would include fine art as well as designs for posters, furniture, jewelry, stained glass and women's clothing.

Fischer was hired as a designer for the magazines 'Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst' and 'Die graphische Künste', and later had works published in Europe's The Studio and Pan, and the American publication Print Connoisseur, among others. He participated in the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris where he was a representative of the Deutsche Werkstatten Hellerau, a major interior and furniture design firm, and exhibited in gourp and solow shows throughout Europe and the United States. In what was arguably the golden age of poster design, Fischer is sometimes credited with helping bring Germany's graphic design to the world stage with posters he created in 1896 for the exhibition "Dresden: Die Alte Stadt" (Dresden: The Old City). 

Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, Fischer began working in oil pastels and watercolors to create landscapes, soon garnering attention from collectors and museums including the Berlin National Gallery and the National Gallery in Warsaw. In 1907 he turned his focus to oil painting, relocating to the Giant Mountains near Buchwald for a time until returning to Dresden in 1913 to take a position as professor at the Dresden Academy. 

Fischer's work can found in permanent collections in major museums in Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Breslau, Budapest and at the Albertina, Vienna. Fischer died in Dresden in 1947.