Isabel Case Borgatta 1921-2017
Artists' Statement
“I carve directly in stone without a preliminary drawing or a completely formed idea of the finished work. I select a stone that speaks to me directly through its shape, color and texture or feel, and I work with what is unique about it, neither imposing my will on a rock or letting a rock dominate me. The process is more like a dialogue with a material for which I have always had a real passion. The completed work is basically figurative with an emphasis on archetypes such as shamans, healers, warriors, queens, mothers, and fertility figures, often combined with a symbolic bird or animal form to convey a sense of deep connection between human beings and the world of nature.”
Bio
Isabel Case Borgatta was born Isabel Marie Case on November 21, 1921 in Madison, Wisconsin, daughter to H. C. M. Case, noted agricultural economist, and Naomi Newburn Case. She spent her early years in Urbana, Illinois. At age 11, Isabel began a lifelong love affair with stone while acting as a gofer in the US treasury's geology department. At 13, Isabel made her sculptural debut, winning first place in a national Ivory Soap carving contest, and never looked back. She attended Smith College and later received a BFA as one of Yale's first female students of sculpture. She honed her hand-carving skills in Jose de Creeft's studio.
Isabel married painter Robert Borgatta and had three children, balancing the roles of wife, mother, and working artist. To address the gender imbalance she experienced in the art world, she became a founding member of the Women in the Arts organization. She was at the forefront of a movement to promote opportunities for women artists.
She experienced early critical acclaim, featured in a showcase of women artists at the Whitney, a group show at the Metropolitan, and she won the D'Orsay prize in 1952. Isabel was able to skillfully transition to other media, including wood, metal, fabric, and paper, which she experimented with while raising young children, though she returned to stone as soon as she had the time. Isabel's work is represented in many public and private collections; she presented a series of solo shows nationally, and she received several Yaddo and McDowell fellowships as well as numerous other awards and honors.
An avid traveler, Isabel was influenced by sculptures and carvings she saw in Greece and the Yucatan Peninsula. After her divorce she began taking annual trips to Greece to select her stones for the upcoming year. She felt a strong sense of connection to each stone, using its lines, colors, and even flaws to inform her work. She said, "I particularly appreciate the finality of stone, the fact the that something you take off cannot be put back. In other words, you can't raise the bridge. You have to keep lowering the river until you get it right." She often combined human and animal characters, inspired by Greek mythology. Isabel was recognized in Greece as well, winning several sculpture grants from the Greek government to carve in Delphi and Crete. In 1995 she was the first woman to earn the Alex J. Ettl grant for Lifetime Achievement in American Sculpture. She continued to carve well into her 90s despite heart attacks, strokes, battles with cancer, and a fall into an uncovered NYC manhole. After a lifetime of hand-carving, she reluctantly took up power tools at age 90, and even recently could be found in her Westbeth Studio overlooking the Hudson River with sandpaper in hand.
She passed away in April of 2017, after a long full life where many of her dreams were realized through her passionate work as well as her tenacious and fiery spirit of enjoyment.
CV
Education:
Smith College
Yale University School of Fine Arts (BFA)
New School
Studio of Jose de Creeft
Art Students League
Awards:
Victor Memorial Prize, 1997
Greek Government Sculpture Grant to Carve in Crete, 1995, 1996, 1997
Greek Government Sculpture Grant to Carve in Delphi, 1990, 1993
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992
Woman of the Year, Westchester County, 1975
Yaddo Fellowship, 1971,1973
Edward McDowell Fellowship, 1968, 1973, 1974
Zell Award, Silvermine Guild, 1960
Jacques Lipchitz Award, 1961, Hudson River Museum
D’Orsay Prize, National Association of Women Artists, 1952
First Prize, Village Arts Center, 1951
Solo Exhibits:
The Century Club, NYC, NY, 2011
Virginia Center for the Arts, Sweet Briar, VA, 1987
Closson Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, 1987
Camp Gallery, Sweet Briar. VA, July 1987
Sid Deutch Gallery, NYC,1984, 1986, 1987
Benson Galleries, Bridgehampton, NY, 1978, 1979, 1983
Nardin Galleries, NYC, 1979
Galerie Coach, Paris, 1978
City University Graduate Center, NYC, 1977
Seton University, NJ, 1974
Cathedral Museum, St. John the Divine, NYC, 1978
Frank Rehn Gallery, NYC, 1977
General Electric Headquarters, CT, 1977
Gallimaufry, Croton-on-Hudson, 1977
Library Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ, 1976
Museum in the Mall, Bridgeport, CT, 1975
Bridge Gallery, White Plains, 1975
Frank Rehn Gallery, 1968,1971,1974,1977
Overseas Press Club, 1969
Exhibits Unlimited,1964
Ann Ross Gallery, 1063
Hudson River Museum, 1962
Gallery Ten, 1961
Galerie St. Etienne, New York, 1954
Village Art Center, 1951
Group and National Exhibitions:
Metropolitan Museum, Fordham Museum, Crete, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, Riverside Museum, Hudson River Museum, Audubon Artists Annuals, National Academy Annuals, Hartford Athenaeum, Norfolk Museum, Knoedler Gallery, Sculptors Guild, Sculptors League, Columbia University Club, Stamford Museum, Hechtlinger Gallery, Kranert Museum, Women Choose Women, New York Cultural Center, 20th Century Sculpture, Hudson River Museum, University of Illinois, Women’s Interart Center, Women’s work Traveling Surveys, Union College, Smith College Centennial Exhibition, Fordham University, Adelphi University, University of Connecticut, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center, Yale University, Lever House, General Electric Center, Sculpture Center, College of New Rochelle Museum, NY Carlsberg Glypotek, Copenhagen, Canton Ohio Art Institute, New York Botanical Garden, Connecticut College,Cathedral Museum St. John the Divine, Bi-coastal Sculpture Show, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Museum, Chicago Art Institute, Shidoni Sculpture Museum, Twentieth Century Masters, Sid Deutsch Gallery, Kyoto Museum Japan, Cline Gallery of Santa Fe, Brooklyn College, Angela Flowers Gallery London, New York Design Center, Galerie Coach of Paris, Cast Iron Gallery, Women Sculptors of the Nineties, New House Museum, County Center of Westchester, Rockland Art Center.
Museum Collections
Yale University Art Gallery
Tang Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College
Smith College Museum of Art
Brookgreen Gardens
Sheldon Museum of Art
Hartford Athenaeum
Norfolk Museum
Yeshiva University
Krannert Museum, University of Illinois
Benton Museum, University of Connecticut
College of New Rochelle
City University of New York Graduate Center
Hudson River Museum
Oklahoma Art Center
Corporate Collections:
Book of the Month Club, New York City
Galina Company, Milan, Italy
Sy Miller Associates, New York City
Collins and Aikman, New York City
H.I. Feldman Corporation, New York City
Levey-Gutman, New York City
Verizon ( NYNEX), New York City
Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City
Zolfital SPA, Rome, Italy
Trans-National Development Corporation
Private collections:
Senator William Benton; Harry Belafonte’ Jennings Lang; Maitland Griggs; Alice Kahn Ladas; Dr. Joseph Ransohoff; Mark Van Doren; Morris Ernst; Sy Miller; Sr. Martin G Marmon; Olga Knoepke; Mr. & Mrs. Richard Persinger; Otto Kallir; John Clancy; Mr. & Mrs. W. Leuchtenberg; Dr. & Mrs.Howard Rappoport; Dr. and Mrs.Robert Schaeffer; Mrs. Rudolph Wunderlich; Alfred Kazin; Jeremiah Lambert; Dr. Richard Barrett; Eugene Beyer; Mr. and Mrs. Donald Trump; Mr. and Mrs. Saul Spilke, Mr. and Mrs. William Blitzer: Mr. and Mrs. Richard Sternberg; Mr. and Mrs. Benson Selzer; Mr. and Mrs. Dan Talbot; Robert Keller; Ellen Westheimer; Gumersindo Rodriguez
Teaching:
College of New Rochelle, Adjunct Associate Professor, 1973-77; Professor, 1978-81
City College of New York, Lecturer, 1959-70
Halstead School, Yonkers. 1948-49
Bibliography:
Paul Zelanski, Mary Pat Fisher, “Shaping Space,” Harcourt Brace, 1995
Isabel Case Borgatta, “Persistence of the Figure,” National Sculpture Conference, Ohio, 1980
Virginia Walson Jones, “American Women Sculptors,” Oryx Press, 1986
John Shanks, “Casting Landscapes in Paper” (feature article), The Artist’s Magazine, 1982
Marion Roller, “The Challenge of Space,” National Sculpture Society, Spring 1982
Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, American Women Artists, G.K. Hall, Boston, MA, 1982
Anthony Padovano, The Process of Sculpture, Doubleday, 1981
Isabel Case Borgatta, The Sexual Role in Artistic Sensibility and Iconography, January 1978
Isabel Case Borgatta, “A Sculptor Changes,” Women Artists Newsletter, June 1977
Medical Times (cover photo and story), March 1969
Presbyterian Life (cover Photo), March 1969Mark Van Doren, The Sculptures of Isabel Borgatta (catalogue), Galerie St. Etienne, 1954 Roxanne Guerrero, “A Maternal Art,” Life Magazine, December, 1954
Memberships:
Sculptors Guild, Executive Board, Sculptors League, Membership Chairwoman: Womens’s Caucus, Program Committee; Artist’s Equity; College Art association; Delegate to Federation of Fine Arts; Women’s caucus, Advisory Board; Municipal Art Society of New York; National Sculpture Society; The Century Association