Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Isabel Bishop was a leading painter and printmaker in New York City during the early and middle part of the 20th century. Her subject matter was urban life of common people in lower Manhattan, and she showed great sensitivity to individual personalities. Along with Reginald Marsh and the Soyer brothers, Bishop was an outstanding, determined realist when Abstract Expressionism was the all-prevalent style.

She spent her childhood in Detroit, Michigan, and in 1918, at age sixteen, went to New York to study illustration at the New York School of Applied Design for Women. She attended the Art Students League where Kenneth Hayes Miller and Guy Pene du Bois became major influences. Hayes ins...