Girl with Newspaper

The painting Girl with a Newspaper is the result of Isabel Bishop’s unique and intensive preparatory process. Bishop first made small sketches from life. These drawings became the basis for etchings, like the one here. She then enlarged the etching with a photographic copying machine to establish the future painting’s size. Using a limited palette and horizontal brushwork, she created a web-like surface that knits together foreground and background. She then used tempera to draw the figure with a network of lines, echoing the graphic quality of the etching. The working girl who is the subject of Bishop’s painting resonated with the social dynamics of the mid-1940s. The number of women in the workforce had risen dramatically earlier in the decade as a result of World War II. This sparked debate when returning soldiers expected to resume their prewar jobs.