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Label Text Starting in 1934, Bishop worked from a second floor studio in New York City that overlooked Union Square. She often gazed through the studio’s large windows at noon, observing shop girls and women office workers on their lunch hour. Bishop translated her observations into numerous drawings, prints, and hazy, atmospheric paintings such as Women Walking, No. 1. Unlike the sexualized images of women produced by many of her male contemporaries, Bishop’s figures are recognizable and individualized. Walking separately yet pictured together, they represent a bold generation of working women as they navigate the remainder of their day. October, 2020.
Exhibition History"The Louise Noun Collection of Art by Women", University of Iowa, March 24 - May 13, 1990; DMAC, May 25 - August 5, 1990

"Isabel Bishop Retrospective," Whitney Museum of American Art, 1977

"Iowa Collects," Des Moines Art Center, 1973

"Isabel Bishop Retrospective," Midtown Galleries, N. Y., 1967

"Annual Exhibition of Painting," Whitney Museum of American Art, N. Y., 1963
Published ReferencesKarl Lunde, ISABEL BISHOP, Harry N. Abrams Inc., N. Y., 1975, cat. no.149, color ill.

"Isabel Bishop Retrospective," Midtown Galleries, N. Y., 1967, exh. cat. no.14

WOMEN IN HISTORY, Scott, Foresman and Company, Glenview, IL, 1989, color cover ill.

U of I, 1990, Conklin ed., p.6-7 (illustration)
DimensionsOverall: 36 × 40 in. (91.4 × 101.6 cm)
Accession Number 2003.307
Classificationspainting
SignedUnsigned - see undated letter from artist in file
InscriptionsIsabel Bishop (l,l)
Paper/SupportGesso panel
ProvenanceArtist; (Midtown Galleries, New York, NY); Louise R. Noun, Des Moines [purchased from the previous, 1964]; Des Moines Art Center [bequest of the previous, 2003]
Women Walking, No. 1
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1931
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1931
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1930
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1931
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1931
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1931
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1932
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Isabel Bishop
1958
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Dwight Kirsch
1939
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Isabel Bishop
date unknown