Portrait of Isabel

Artist André Derain French, 1880–1954

Date1935–1939

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions29 3/4 x 29 1/8 in. (75.6 x 74 cm)
Frame: 39 5/8 x 38 1/4 x 2 in. (100.6 x 97.2 x 5.1 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Mrs. James V. Forrestal

Object numberG.55.9.1

On View

Not on view

Label TextFrench painter André Derain, along with Henri Matisse, is recognized as one of the founders of fauvism, an early-twentieth century art movement that shocked French audiences due to its daring color and spontaneous brushwork. However, Portrait of Isabel, created decades later, reflects Derain’s transition to a more conventional approach to portraiture. The sitter in this work is the influential artist Isabel Rawsthorne (1912–92), who is often overshadowed by her role as model to artists like Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon, with her frequent name changes adding to the obscurity of her work.

Rawsthorne was born in east London and grew up in Liverpool. She studied art at the Royal Academy, among other institutions. While much of her artwork produced before 1950 remains to be found, a few surviving works show the artist’s fascination with anatomy, executed through a gestural manner. After moving to Paris in 1934 to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Rawsthorne was introduced to Derain and became entrenched in the Parisian art and literary scene. She later returned to London and is now credited with introducing many there to the advanced principles of modernism that were prevalent in Paris.
[J. Ledesma, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2024]ProvenanceJosephine Ogden (Mrs. James V.) Forrestal (1899–1976), Washington, DC; given to NCMA (through Newhouse Galleries, New York, NY), 1955.

Published ReferencesW. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956) no. 148 (as Portrait of a Woman), illus. (b-w).

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 271.

Derain Balthus Giacometti: Une Amitié Artistique (Paris: Paris Musées, 2017), 10, illus. (color) 11, fig. 8.

J. M. Plaza, “La modernidad o como nos reinventamos el pasado,” El Mundo (January 31, 2018), illus. (color).

M. Lorenci, “Amistad, sensualidad y realismo metafisico en la era de las vanguardias,” La Verdad de Cartegna (January 31, 2018), illus. (color).

Exhibition HistoryHickory, NC, The Hickory Museum of Art, “Beyond Likeness: Contemporary Considerations of the Portrait,” November 1–December 31, 1997; Wilmington, NC, St. John’s Museum of Art, April 30–June 28, 1998; Fayetteville, NC, Fayetteville Museum of Art, July 11–August 30, 1998; Asheville, NC, Asheville Art Museum, September 17, 1998–January 2, 1999; Greenville, NC, Greenville Museum of Art, January 14–February 28, 1999, brochure.

Paris, Musée D’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, “Derain, Balthus, Giacometti: Une amitié artistique,” June 1–October 29, 2017; Madrid, Fundación MAPFRE, January 30–May 5, 2018.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Artist's Models," November 4, 2024-October 27, 2025.

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