Artist’s Table

Isabel Bishop, Artist's Table, 1931, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.6
Copied Isabel Bishop, Artist's Table, 1931, oil on canvas, 14 5⁄8 x 17 1⁄2 in. (37.2 x 44.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.6

Artwork Details

Title
Artist’s Table
Artist
Date
1931
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
14 5⁄8 x 17 1⁄2 in. (37.2 x 44.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Still life — other — container
  • Still life — art tool
  • Still life — furniture — table
  • Still life — foliage
Object Number
1986.6.6
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.6.6

Artwork Description

Bishop’s impeccable draftsmanship brought her recognition in the 1930s as one of the outstanding urban realists of the Fourteenth Street School, a group named for the area where Bishop, Reginald Marsh, Raphael Soyer, and several other artist friends portrayed the local scene. Artist’s Table offers an intimate glimpse of Bishop’s studio; the casual disarray of the painting table and partly opened drawer reveal the private space in which the artist worked.


Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 2014
Luce Center Label

Isabel Bishop painted a “behind-the-scenes” glimpse of her studio, where old-fashioned glass bottles and muted shades of brown, orange, and gray conjure the rich smells of linseed oil and turpentine. The clutter of bottles and boxes, lit with raking light in a dusky space, evokes Bishop’s more famous figural paintings, which often show crowds of people milling about in lively urban spaces.

Exhibitions

Media - 1986.6.100 - SAAM-1986.6.100_2 - 135134
Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Sara Roby Foundation Collection
Smithsonian American Art Museum
This exhibition presents some of the most treasured paintings and sculpture from SAAM’s permanent collection, including artworks by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, George Tooker, among others.