Isabel Bishop

A black ink drawing of a woman on a beige ground. She is drawn from the neck up in three-quarter profile with a slight smile, her hair pulled back, her right hand held up to her right cheek, and her head tilted.

Isabel Bishop, Self Portrait, 1929, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; © Isabel Bishop Estate

1902 to 1988

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, she arrived in New York in 1918 at age of 16, where she studied illustration and painting. After marrying Dr. Harold Wolff in 1934, she lived in Riverdale but maintained her studio on Union Square near 14th Street until 1984.

Bishop’s work shifted focus—in her early artwork she had depicted realistically rendered nudes, but in New York she began to draw, etch, and paint the distinctly urban subject matter that surrounded her. After moving to Union Square in 1926, she became enamored of the area and its inhabitants. Shop girls, straphangers, laborers, and derelicts became her models as they traversed. By capturing their motions and gestures in prints, Bishop produced the walking figures for which she is best known.

Bishop taught at the Art Students League as the only female full-time instructor from 1936 to 1937 and also at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, among others. She received awards and prizes including an American Academy of Arts and Letters award (1943), an award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts presented by President Jimmy Carter (1979), and several honorary doctorates. She was the first woman to hold an executive position in the National Institute of Arts and Letters when she became vice-president in 1946.

Artist Details

  • Name

    Isabel Bishop

  • Birth

    Cincinnati, 1902

  • Death

    Cincinnati, 1988

  • Phonetic Spelling

    IHZ-ah-behl BIHSH-up

Works by Isabel Bishop

  • Seated Woman with Hat

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    Woman with large hat sits contemplatively, looking left, her arms resting on her crossed knees, holding a cigarette. Dark lines of print begin on the bottom, fading out towards the center, in line with her hands. A long fur stole reaches over her coat, crossing her body.

    Isabel Bishop, Seated Woman with Hat, 1949; Engraving on paper, 13 x 10 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Carol and Walter Ceglowski; © The Estate of Isabel Bishop. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York

  • Nude Reaching

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    Print of a nude, standing woman. Shown from the side, she faces right and brings her right arm to touch the ground. Her dark hair is seen underneath a white cap, which matches the light-colored, abstract background.

    Isabel Bishop, Nude Reaching, 1963; Etching and aquatint on paper, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Bequest of Catherine Gamble Curran; © The Estate of Isabel Bishop. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York

  • Little Nude

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    Print of a seated woman removing her white underwear. Seen from the side, the lifts her left leg and pulls with both hands. Her light skin contrasts with her dark hair and the grey and black background behind her, which is structured by abstract shapes resembling rocks.

    Isabel Bishop, Little Nude, 1964; Etching and aquatint on paper, 10 7/8 x 9 1/4 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Bequest of Catherine Gamble Curran; © The Estate of Isabel Bishop. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York

  • Campus Students No. 1

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    Six painted figures walk through a space structured by rectangular shapes of red, brown and tan. Dressed mainly in pants, boots and shortsleeved shirts, the figures pass each other without interacting and move in many directions. The texture of the panel surface shows through the paint.

    Isabel Bishop, Campus Students No. 1, 1972; Oil on board, 22 1/4 x 40 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Bequest of Catherine Gamble Curran; © The Estate of Isabel Bishop. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York

  • Men and Girls Walking

    In 1918, at age 16, Isabel Bishop moved from Detroit to New York and enrolled at the New York School of Applied Design for Women with the intention of studying illustration. Two years later, she transferred to The...

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    Print of men and women moving through space. Their black and white figures blend into the environment, with patches of light and shadow on their clothing flattening space. Some wear hats, others carry jackets slung over their shoulders, each moving in their own direction.

    Isabel Bishop, Men and Girls Walking, 1969; Aquatint on paper, 13 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward P. Levy; © The Estate of Isabel Bishop. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York