Isabel Bishop

American, 1902–1988

Delayed Departure, 1935

From the series Eight Etchings 1930-1959

Etching

Wichita Art Museum, Gift of the Sylvan Cole Gallery in honor of Howard E. Wooden

1988.53.2

Isabel Bishop was the sole female member of the Fourteenth Street School, so named for the location of its artists’ studios in the New York neighborhood of 14^th Street and Union Square. Bishop adhered to the philosophy of the group’s leader, Kenneth Hayes Miller, who wanted to resurrect the dignity of classical composition within the vital street life of New York. However, Bishop also distinguished herself as an independent stylist. She honed her vision to an incisive description of ordinary people seen in private moments of vulnerability. Delayed Departure exhibits the combination of solid composition and candor, which typified Bishop’s unique contributions to the characterization of twentieth-century urban America.

This etching is one of a group of eight prints executed during the years 1930-1959 which went unpublished until 1984 when the Sylvan Cole Gallery negotiated their publication with the artist.