Important listed artist Isabel Case Borgatta (1912-2017)
Isabel Case Borgatta is a founding member of the Women in the Arts organization. This organization was created to assist women artists to have an outlet to show and be recognized for their work. She attend Smith College and later received a BFA from Yale as one of their first female students of sculpture. She studied and honed her carving skills with stone in Jose de Creeft’s studio. She has shown in galleries worldwide including the Whitney when it was on 8th Street and The Metropolitan. She won the D’Orsay award in 1952 and in 1995 earned the Alex J. Ettl grant for Lifetime Achievement in American Sculpture. She also has received several Yaddo and McDowell fellowships. Her work is represented in many public and private collections and not seen on the open market.
What is so refreshing with this wonderful piece of 3 Strong ladies is made with wood and fabric. This fabric sculpture is robust and stylized, like her work with stone. This departure with fabric and wood is a result of raising her family and not having time to work with stone. This is RARE to have a piece from this particular time period of her life. It’s interesting that she is assisting other women to have a voice in the art world, yet she can’t work with stone. She later divorced and moved from Dobbs Ferry, NY to the Westbeth Artist Community in Chelsea. I’m in the process of purchasing a couple more pieces of her soft sculpture period. I was able to to uncover a show postcard sometime from the 1970’s. She showed these works at the Elaine Benson Gallery, Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York, June 17 – July 4. (No year given).
Description: 3 Strong ladies, 17″ x 17″ x 33″h, circa 1974. A name label is under the swiveling triangle base. The sculpture is in good condition; it has some fading and dust built up. The detail of stitching and molding of the textured fabric and fill looks like stone.