Mending

Isabel Bishop, Mending, 1945, oil on fiberboard, 25 1816 78 in. (63.742.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.7

Artwork Details

Title
Mending
Date
1945
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
25 1816 78 in. (63.742.8 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Occupation — domestic — sewing
  • Figure male — full length
  • Architecture Interior — domestic — house
Object Number
1986.6.7

Artwork Description

“I have worked for more than twenty years in a studio at the north west corner of Union Square, New York. I have noticed regular denizens of the Square who, sitting on the benches or on the fountain, eating, sewing or rearranging their worldly goods in paper bundles, seem to be leading the most private of lives, entirely oblivious to the public character of the place. The not-beautiful forms of the fountain seem . . . to make a throne for the old man sewing his trousers; his billowing old overcoat [becomes] a robe.”

--Isabel Bishop


Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 2014

Works by this artist (1036 items)

William H. Johnson, Young Pastry Cook, ca. 1928-1930, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.693
Young Pastry Cook
Dateca. 1928-1930
oil on canvas
On view
William H. Johnson, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1935-1938, oil on burlap, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.814
Portrait of a Man
Dateca. 1935-1938
oil on burlap
On view
William H. Johnson, Breakdown with Flat Tire, ca. 1940-1941, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.587
Breakdown with Flat Tire
Dateca. 1940-1941
oil on plywood
On view
William H. Johnson, For India and China, ca. 1944-1945, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.662
For India and China
Dateca. 1944-1945
oil on paperboard
On view

Exhibitions

Media - 1986.6.100 - SAAM-1986.6.100_2 - 135134
Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Sara Roby Foundation Collection
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.