Isabel Bishop (March 3, 1902 – February 19, 1988) was an American painter and graphic artist. Bishop studied under

Kenneth Hayes Miller Kenneth Hayes Miller (March 11, 1876 – January 1, 1952) was an American painter, printmaker, and teacher. Career Born in Oneida, New York, he studied at the Art Students League of New York with Kenyon Cox, Henry Siddons Mowbray and with Willia ...

at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, where she would later become an instructor. She was most notable for her scenes of everyday life in Manhattan, as a member of the loosely-defined ‘Fourteenth Street School’ of artists, grouped in that precinct. Union Square features prominently in her work, which mainly depicts female figures. Bishop’s paintings won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, among other distinctions.

Early life and education

Bishop was born the youngest of five siblings in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Founders of a prep school in Princeton, New Jersey, her parents were highly educated individuals and descendants from East coast mercantile families. Though the family descended from old wealth, their immediate status was of the middle class, and financial insecurity forced the family to move often. Bishop spent her childhood years in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. In every new city the Bishop family would move to, John, Isabel's father, would become involved with a local school. Oftentimes becoming the principal or eventually owning the school. Bishop compared growing up and moving around with her parents to be like being an only child, because her siblings were fifteen plus years older than her and didn't live with her family at the time. Her father was a scholar of Greek and Latin. Her siblings, two sets of twins, were older than her by well over a decade. One set of twins, a boy and a girl, were twelve years older; the other set of twins, also a boy and girl, were fifteen years old at the time of her birt

Her mother was emotionally indifferent and distant from Bishop; she was a suffragist, feminist and aspiring writer who urged her daughters to become independent, strong women. After the family relocated to Detroit, Bishop began her art education at the age of 12 in a Saturday morning life drawing class at the John Wicker Art School in Detroit.Todd, Eileen. ''The "New Woman",'' p. 57 In 1918, at the age of 15, Bishop graduated high school and began art studies at John Wicker's art school in Detroit, Michigan. She later moved to New York City to study illustration at the New York School of Applied Design for Women. After two years there she shifted from illustration to painting, and attended the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

for four years until 1924. It was there that she studied with

Guy Pène du Bois Guy Pène du Bois (January 4, 1884 – July 18, 1958) was a 20th-century American painter, art critic, and educator. Born in the U.S. to a French family, his work depicted the culture and society around him: cafes, theatres, and in the twenties, f ...

and with

, from whom she adapted a technique which owed much to

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Flemish painting Flemish painting flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century, gradually becoming distinct from the painting of the rest of the Low Countries, especially the modern Netherlands. In the early period, up to about 1520, the painti ...

. In addition, she learned from other early modernists including

Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...

and

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

. During the early 1920s she also studied and painted in

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, New York, Kingston. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The popula ...

. In 1963, she went to Yale University School of Fine Arts, New Haven. Bishop was described as an eager intellectual who was naturally inquisitive and independent in her ways. In this period, women were becoming very active in the arts community, yet were still taken for granted. Bishop pushed against this attitude toward women artists with her insistence on applying herself both academically and politically in the art realm. Throughout her educational ventures, she was fully funded by her father's cousin, James Bishop Ford, who aided her family in their time of need. Writing on this financial sponsorship, Isabel Bishop states that she viewed her gender as an advantage: "I was lucky. I think if I had been a man the relative who sponsored my whole studenthood might not have done so. Men are supposed to make their own way. Young women were supposed to marry. But a young woman putting so much time and effort—being so serious—that was different—that interested him. I don't think he would have subsidized me if I had been a boy."

Career

For the first time that she taught at The Art Students League in New York, she was the only full time woman teacher in that school. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s she developed a realist style of painting, primarily depicting women in their daily routine on the streets of Manhattan. Her work was greatly influenced by

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

and other Dutch and Flemish painters that she had discovered during trips to Europe. In 1932, Bishop began showing her work frequently at the newly opened Midtown Galleries, where her work would be represented throughout her career.Todd, Eileen. ''The "New Woman",'' p. 58 Bishop takes inspiration from Rubens by adding a light ochre-ish tone to all her works, allowing for the painting to be rendered in any way. In 1934, Bishop married Dr. Harold G. Wolff, a neurologist, and moved to Riverdale New York. However, she continued to work in a loft studio near Union Square at 9 West Fourteenth St, which she continued to use until 1984. She became interested in the interaction of form and ground and the mobility of everyday life, what she called "unfixity", life and movement captured on canvas.Bishop, Isabel, and Karl Lunde (1975) ''Isabel Bishop''. New York: Abrams. Her style is noted for its sensitive modeling of form and "a submarine pearliness and density of atmosphere". During this time, Bishop began working in various printing techniques, most notably

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...

. Her work was included in the first three iterations of the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

in 1932, 1934, and 1936, as well as ten subsequent annual exhibitions at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

. She returned to the

as an instructor from 1936 to 1937. In 1940, Bishop was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

as an associate member, and became a full member in 1941. Her work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

. She was also a member of and frequently shown her work in the

Society of American Graphic Artists The Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) is a not for profit national fine arts organization serving professional artists in the field of printmaking. SAGA provides its members with exhibition, reviews and networking opportunities in the Ne ...

exhibitions. In 1938, she painted a post office mural, ''Great Men Came from the Hills'', in New Lexington, Ohio, through the

Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...

. According to the Ohio Historical Society, “In Isabel Bishop’s mural for New Lexington, historic personages from the town admire their achievements across the valley, where we see the forms and silhouettes of distant buildings. The artist, from New York City, discovered that the townspeople were proud of the distinguished people who came from Perry County. She included a Revolutionary soldier, a governor of Wisconsin, a founder of New Lexington and his grandson, an author of reference books on Ohio, the developer of the coal industry, a senator, a newspaperman, a naturalist, the county’s first historian, and General Sheridan.” Bishop's mature works mainly depict the inhabitants of New York's Union Square area. Her portraits are often studies of individual heads (see ''Laughing Head'', 1938, Butler Institute of American Art); the emphasis securely on the subject's expression – or of solitary nudes. Bishop also painted multiple-figure compositions, often containing two females engaged in various workday interactions. In the post-war years, Bishop's interest turned to more abstracted scenes of New Yorkers walking and traveling, in the streets or on the subways. Her signature changed many times over her career, ranging from the use of various pseudonyms to initials; some early pieces are signed I.B, or I. Bishop in both block and script. Her work remains significant as an example of the thematic concerns of the Fourteenth St. School, as well as her contribution to feminism and the "new woman" emerging in urban landscapes. The "Fourteenth Street School," was a loosely affiliated group named for the area around Union Square, where Bishop, Reginald Marsh, and the brothers

Raphael Soyer Raphael Zalman Soyer (December 25, 1899 – November 4, 1987) was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Soyer was referred to as an American scene painter. He is identified as a Social Realist because of his interest in ...

and

Moses Soyer Moses Soyer (December 25, 1899 – September 2, 1974) was an American social realist painter. Biography He was born as Moses Schoar and both he and his identical twin brother, Raphael, were born in Borisoglebsk, Tambov, a southern province of R ...

worked. In 1946 Bishop became an officer of the

National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

, she was the first woman to hold this position. In the mid-1940s, E. P. Dutton commissioned Bishop to illustrate a new edition of Jane Austen's novel ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

''. Bishop produced 31 pen-and-ink drawings (the originals are now at the

Pierpont Morgan Library The Morgan Library & Museum (originally known as the Pierpont Morgan Library and colloquially known the Morgan) is a museum and research library in New York City, New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the private library of the banker J. P. Morg ...

). The first retrospective exhibition of Bishop's work was held during her lifetime at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in 1974.

Awards

In 1943, Bishop was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter presented her with the Outstanding Achievement in the Arts Award. In 1987, she received a Gold Medal for Painting by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Notable works

''Virgil and Dante in Union Square,'' 1932, Oil on canvas, Delaware Art Museu

This piece hung in Bishop's Riverdale home for more than seven years, and set the leitmotif of her career. As a child, Bishop became familiar with the story of Virgil and Dante through her mother, who was translating the text from Italian. Dante's journey through heaven and hell represented the extraordinary depth to life and its many experiences. The two figures standing in front of Union Square adds a narrative element to the bustling scene of life in a city of millions, and sets the scene for her various paintings and prints of urban life. ''Two Girls,'' 1935, Oil and tempera on Masonite, Metropolitan Museum of Ar

'' One of Bishop's most well-known works, the painting took more than a year to complete and was shown at the Midtown Galleries. For the piece, Bishop had two acquaintances from the Union Square area pose, wanting to capture the interaction of the two figures. The piece was painted with oil and tempera. ''Encounter,'' 1940, Oil and tempera on Masonite, St Louis Art Museu

'' In ''Encounter'', Bishop continues with her multiple-figure compositions capturing a scene of interaction between a man and a woman on a city street. Her depiction of the woman as forthright and confident, approaching the man and backing him against a wall, exemplifies Bishop's understanding of shifting gender roles at the time. ''Tidying Up,'' 1941, Oil on Masonite, Indianapolis Museum of Ar

'' '' Tidying Up'' depicts a young female office worker in the midst of checking her teeth in a compact mirror. The ungainly image of self-inspection accords with Bishop's realism and her interest in the daily lives of working women. The rough brushstrokes and surface texture exhibit an interest in old master paintings.

Exhibitions

* Isabel Bishop: exhibition of paintings and drawings, Jan. 17-Feb. 4. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1939. * Isabel Bishop: February 11-February 29. New York: Midtown Galleries, 940?* Bishop. May 3–May 21, 1949. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1949. * Bishop, Paintings and Drawings, Oct. 25-Nov. 19, 1955. New York: Midtown Galleries,

955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also known as Magyars) near Augsburg (Germa ...

* Isabel Bishop. March 7-March 30, 1960. New York City: Midtown Galleries, 1960. * Isabel Bishop. May 3–May 28, 1960. Midtown Galleries, 1960 * Isabel Bishop. April 4–29, 1967. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1967. * Paintings by Isabel Bishop. Sculpture by Dorothea Greenbaum. xhibitionMay 2–July 5, 1970. Trenton: New Jersey State Museum, 1970. * Isabel Bishop: A Selection of Drawings and Prints. January 8–February 2, 1974. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1974. * Isabel Bishop. Tucson: University of Arizona Museum of Art, 1974. * The Lydia and Warren Chappell Collection of Drawings and Prints by Isabel Bishop. April 12–May 18, 1975. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum, 1975. * Isabel Bishop, Drawings and Etchings. December 5–30, 1978. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1978. * Isabel Bishop Exhibition—A Fifty Year Drawing Retrospective and Recent Paintings. October 6–31, 1981. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1981. * Isabel Bishop, An Intimate Exhibition: Work of the Past Five Years. February 1–26, 1983. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1983. * Isabel Bishop: Drawings - Paintings. January 8–February 2, 1985. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1985. * Isabel Bishop: Across Five Decades - The Affectionate Eye - March, 1985. * Isabel Bishop: Etchings and Aquatints, 1985. * Isabel Bishop: A Retrospective of Prints and Drawings. November 5–26, 1985. Associated American Artists, 1985. * Isabel Bishop: Early Drawings. December 9, 1986 – January 17, 1987. New York: Midtown Galleries, 1986. * Isabel Bishop. May 16–30, 1991. Beverly Hills: Louis Newman Galleries, 1991. * Isabel Bishop: Walking Pictures. October 13–November 14, 1992. New York: Midtown Payson Galleries, 1992. * Isabel Bishop: Drawings. April 7–May 2, 1998. New York: DC Moore Gallery, 1998. * Isabel Bishop, 1902–1988: A Selection of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. September 5–October 5, 2013. New York: DC Moore Gallery, 2013. * Women's Work: Selections from the Sordoni Art Gallery Permanent Collection. June 5–July 27, 2014. Wilkes-Barre: Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University, 2014.

Bibliography

Books

* Brooklyn Museum. ''Isabel Bishop--Prints and Drawings, 1925–1964''. Brooklyn: The Museum, 1964. * Ellett, Mary Sweeney. “Isabel Bishop—The Endless Search.” Ph.D diss. University of Virginia, 1987. * Lunde, Karl. ''Isabel Bishop''. New York: Abrams, 1975. * Nemser, Cindy. ''Art Talk: Conversations with 15 Women Artists''. New York: IconEditions, 1995. Pages 303–320. * Teller, Susan. ''Isabel Bishop—Etchings and Aquatints: a catalogue raisonné''. 2nd ed. New York: Associated American Artists, 1985. * Todd, Ellen Wiley. ''The "New Woman" Revised: Painting and Gender Politics on Fourteenth Street''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Chapter 7, pages 55–62. * Yglesias, Helen. ''Isabel Bishop''. New York: Rizzoli, 1989.

Articles

* Ellett, Mary S. “Isabel Bishop: The Endless Search.” ''Southeastern College Art Conference Review'' 11,no. 2 (Spring 1987): 165–166. * Rubinstein, Charlotte Streifer, "American Scene and Realist Painting: Isabel Bishop." ''American Women Artists: From Early Indian Times to the Present.'' Boston: G.K. Jall & Co., 1982 * Todd, Ellen Wiley. “Isabel Bishop—Our Modern Master?” ''Woman's Art Journal'' 13 (Spring/Summer 1992): 45–47. * Wooden, Howard. "Art Feature: Isabel Bishop's ''Self-Portrait''. ''Wichita Art Museum News'' (April 1988). * Yglesias, Helen. “Isabel Bishop: Paintings, Drawings, Prints.” ''Massachusetts Review'' 24 (Summer 1983): 289–304.

Notes

* Th
Isabel Bishop Papers, 1914-1983
have been digitized and posted online by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. These primary source historical documents include biographical documents, correspondence, writings and notes, exhibition catalogs, photographs of Bishop with her husband and in her studio, original artwork including 8 sketchbooks, loose sketches, prints, and watercolor figure studies. * The American indie rock band

Unrest Unrest, also called disaffection, is a sociological phenomenon, including: * Civil disorder * Domestic terrorism * Industrial unrest * Labor unrest * Rebellion * Riot * Strike action * State of emergency Notable historical instances of unrest ...

released an EP named the ''Isabel Bishop E.P.'' in 1993, with Bishop's picture on the cover. It includes the song "Isabel", originally on the album Imperial f.f.r.r., which references Detroit and Bishop's painting "Five Women Walking". * One of Bishop's illustrations for ''

''—of

Elizabeth Bennet Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist in the 1813 novel '' Pride and Prejudice'' by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family. Elizabeth is the second child in a family of five daughters. Though the circ ...

reading a letter from Jane—will be prominently featured on the £10 note honoring

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

. The note will be in circulation in 2016.Jane Austen to feature on Bank of England banknotes
, Banknote Character Announcements, Bank of England, July 2013.

References

Messinger, L. M. (1996). Isabel Bishop: Self-portrait. ''Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'', ''54'', 58–58. Todd, Ellen Wiley. (1989). Isabel Bishop: the question of difference. Smithsonian studies in American art Vol. 3, issue 4 (fall 1989), p. 24-41 Yglesias, Helen. (1975). Isabel Bishop.

Footnotes

External links

Oral history interview with Isabel Bishop, 1959 May 29

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

, Smithsonian Institution

Oral history interview with Isabel Bishop, 1987 November 12-December 11],

, Smithsonian Institution {{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Isabel 1902 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American painters American social realist artists American muralists New York School of Applied Design for Women alumni Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Painters from Cincinnati Painters from Detroit American tempera painters Painters from New York City American women printmakers National Academy of Design members American women muralists 20th-century American printmakers Art Students League of New York alumni Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters 20th-century American women painters