Note: Isabel has been subjected to relative obscurity, probably due to her name changes from three marriages, and from being dismissed by society as merely the striking studio model, lover or muse of artistic icons such as Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, and Francis Bacon.
Despite highly acclaimed exhibitions in the 50s and 60s, she has only recently received serious renewed recognition, which is now gaining pace and several paintings have entered public collections as a result.
From a humble background she studied at the Liverpool College of Art, later winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy in London. After working with Jacob Epstein she moved to Paris to study at the Academie de la Grande Chamiere and associated with Giacometti, Tristan Tzara and the Surrealist Circle. Throughout her life she was within leading artistic circles, be they composers, dancers, artists or writers. It is notable that she became a respected scenery and costume designer for ballet and opera productions at the Royal Opera House.
From 1949 she and Bacon showcased their figurative brand of modern art at the Hanover Gallery and exhibited in the ICA and British Council. Indeed the critic David Sylvester ranked her alongside Bacon, Lucien Freud, John Craxton and Peter Lanyon
It was during the 1960s and 1970s, with the deaths of Giacometti and her third husband, that the ethereal double portraits emerged and where the distinctive dead and sculpted likenesses evolved. This painting is almost certainly one of a portrait series of her late husband Alan Rawsthorne and his sister Barbara. The spectral faces dissolve into a void-like background, capturing the fragility of the human body. The doubling effect suggests the mirrored ballet studios in which she drew dancers at their craft. The grainy texture, created with sand highlighted with hints of pink, yellow and white, emphasises the shafts of light and the window behind.
