I asked well-known Indianapolis art collector and gallery owner Greg Lucas to select a favorite painting from the vast collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, one of the largest art museums in the country.
He chose Tidying Up (1941, oil on masonite, 15 by 11 2/3 inches) by Isabel Bishop (1902-1988). Along with Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) and Kenneth Hayes Miller (1876-1952), Bishop was part of a group of painters known as the “14th Street School.” These artists focused on life in New York and were especially active in the 1930s and 1940s.
“What I like about it is that it is like a drawing in paint,” Lucas says. “Bishop painted a number of pieces that were about working women of her day – secretaries and shop girls doing ordinary things. It was a part of that whole movement to find things of beauty in the everyday.”
Using a layered approach to oil painting based on the technical approach of the Flemish Masters, Bishop was able to fluidly model light and line at the same time. From her studio on Union Square, Bishop was a keen and sympathetic observer of this vibrant everyday world for more than 50 years. Her superb drawing skills carried over very naturally to printmaking, and Bishop is almost as well-known for her prints as for her subtle paintings.
If you go to Indianapolis, you might want to visit the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, which has a very fine collection and an active exhibition schedule.
Nationally renowned local artist Michael McEwan teaches painting and drawing classes at his Clintonville area studio.
