Bishop, Isabel
19021988Isabel Bishop was born and raised in the Midwest. She came to New York in 1918 where she studied at the New York School of Applied Design for Women and the Art Students League, where her teachers included Kenneth Hayes Miller and Guy P6ne du Bois. In 1934 she rented a studio in Union Square where she worked for the remainder of her career, often taking as her subjects the men and women who worked in the shops and offices on the square, or who walked or sat in Union Square Park.
She was a great draughtsman, and much of her graphic work is devoted to studies of the human figure in motion or at rest within the context of their activities in Union Square or similar settings. Bishop made etchings throughout her career, producing more than 80 prints between 1925 and 1982.
Prior to 1978 Bishop had editoned only a few of her prints; most of them were printed on an “as needed” basis only, by her, on her own press as gifts, or for sale. From 1978 on, Bishop collaborated with Sylvan Cole of Associated American Artists and the master printer Stephen Sholinsky to produce editions of most of her earlier prints. Some of these were sold in portfolios of eight etchings each, and some were issued individually. The final two portfolios were issued posthumously, without signatures. Our inventory comprises a significant number of the proofs printed by Bishop herself prior to the publication of the editions, and a large number of the editioned prints.
