14th Street (Primary Title)
Isabel Bishop, American, 1902 - 1988 (Artist)
Isabel Bishop was a member of the so-called Fourteenth Street School, a group of social realist artists who found subject matter in the hordes of people populating the streets and public sites around New York City’s Union Square. Her painting, 14th Street, features a huddle of anonymous figures from which a distinctly rendered woman emerges, looking to her left. Bishop emphasizes the woman’s presence by depicting her in tones comparatively brighter than those of the crowd around her. Wearing a brimless, cloche-style cap, sash belt, and elegant but practical dress, she matches the “New Woman” figure so often found in art of the Fourteenth Street School. Usually understood as office workers or other service employees, the popular New Woman type was empowered by entering the workplace, spending her earnings, and frequently wearing smart, new fashions.
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