Isabel Bishop Early Sketchbook c. 1928 - 1936

Curator: Here we have "Isabel Bishop Early Sketchbook," a collection of pen-ink drawings and experimental ideas dating from roughly 1928 to 1936. Editor: What strikes me first is the immediate access to Bishop's creative process, a rawness made visible through the tentative, searching lines. Curator: Exactly. Sketchbooks provide a glimpse into an artist’s thinking. With Bishop, we gain insight into how she challenged early 20th century gender norms through her portrayals of working women. Editor: Looking closely, the materiality is fundamental. The visible marks of the pen and ink are raw, immediate, revealing a direct relationship between the artist's hand, her chosen medium, and the working class subject matter she portrays. It emphasizes that art-making itself is a kind of labor. Curator: Precisely! Bishop was incredibly intentional. She walked the streets of New York looking to capture a democratic portrait of everyday life. And beyond capturing these subjects, the act of sketching became a kind of political statement, valuing working class figures in fine art. Editor: I am fascinated by this idea of a political act through process, rather than solely through subject matter. There's a directness of material expression that resonates beyond the representational figures she sketches, a celebration of artistic labor aligning with Bishop's commitment to observing and depicting other forms of urban toil. Curator: It is compelling how she blurs those boundaries, making both the creation and the depiction intrinsically connected. Editor: These aren’t polished works, but tools, documents even. They show not only how Bishop generated concepts, but reflect a time and value the act of seeing. Thank you for calling attention to these vital means of cultural production. Curator: Thank you. These sketches allow us to reframe dialogues of value, skill and labor as a kind of lived and embodied politics.