Discover the unconventional artist Isabel Rawsthorne in the latest HENI Talk, Isabel Rawsthorne Rediscovered: The Poetry in Things.
Defying expectations, Isabel Rawsthorne (1912-1992) made a place for herself among contemporaries in early 20th-century visual art, reaching the centre of the Paris avant-garde. Her ingenuity as an artists’ model won her the freedom to paint, a vocation she would pursue for 75 years. A lifelong natural historian, Rawsthorne’s ephemeral images are informed by her observations of the language of gesture and movement, from her poetic depictions of animals to her embattled self-portraits. Guided by curator Carol Jacobi, discover artist Isabel Rawsthorne, “a missing link of 20th century art”.
"We think of Isabel as … this incredibly glamorous figure … but she challenged that fundamental divide between the model and artist … in a way, when she was the subject of Giacometti, of Bacon, she was also an artist."
- Carol Jacobi