Betty Isaacs
{{Short description|New Zealand sculptor and textile designer (1894–1971)}}
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Betty Isaacs (2 September 1894 – 4 January 1971), (born Betty Lewis), was an Australian born, New Zealand sculptor, artist and textile designer.
Early life and education
Betty Isaacs was born on 2 September 1894 in Hobart, Tasmania.{{Cite web |title=Betty Isaacs profile |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/1141 |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa}} The Lewis family faced hardships early in her life, including the death of her father when she was two. Her New Zealand born mother moved the family back to Wellington, New Zealand, where she later remarried.{{Cite web |title=Loading... {{!}} Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/3426 |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz}}
After her mother's death during Isaacs teenage years, she took on the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings. A spinal injury in her youth led her to seek medical treatment in New York, United States of America, where she underwent a successful operation and later moved to live and work.
Career
Isaacs worked as a librarian in New York, where she met her husband, Julius Isaacs, in 1921. He encouraged her to pursue her artistic ambitions. She studied at the Elverhøj Art Colony in New York, Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Vienna, and later studied and taught at the Cooper Union School of Art in Manhattan, New York.{{Cite web |title=Betty Lewis Isaacs {{!}} People {{!}} Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/people/18059875 |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=collection.cooperhewitt.org}}{{Cite web |title=Betty Lewis ISAACS (1894-1971) - Biography, life, background and work by Artprice |url=https://www.artprice.com/artist/207202/betty-lewis-isaacs/biography |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=Artprice.com |language=en-EN}}
Her design work included textiles and wallpapers characterized by bright colours and intricate patterns, often inspired by nursery rhymes and natural scenes.
After years in commercial design, Isaacs shifted her focus to ceramics and discovered her passion for sculpture. She became a self-taught sculptor, creating expressive works in clay, stone, and wood, often depicting animals and human figures.{{Cite web |title=Julius Isaacs and Betty Lewis Isaacs interviewed by Hazel de Berg for the Hazel de Berg collection... - Catalogue {{!}} National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2164057 |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=catalogue.nla.gov.au |language=en}} She was a prolific creator and designed numerous textile and rug designs, drawings, sculptures and ceramics over her lifetime.
Isaacs held her first solo exhibition in 1953 at the Hacker Gallery in New York and her work is held in many private collections worldwide.{{Cite news |date=1971-02-05 |title=Betty L. Isaacs, Sculptor And Magistrate's Wife, 76 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/05/archives/betty-l-saacs-sculptor-and-magistrates-wife-76.html |access-date=2025-02-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
Death and legacy
Betty Isaacs died on 4 January 1971 in New York City.{{Cite web |title=Isaacs, Betty Lewis |url=https://findnzartists.org.nz/en/artist/7609/betty-lewis-isaacs |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=findnzartists.org.nz}}
Betty and Julius Isaacs were patrons of the arts and developed a significant personal art collection. Upon their deaths, their collection was bequeathed to the National Art Gallery of New Zealand, consisting of over 200 items, primarily featuring Betty's sculptures and designs, as well as paintings by Julius and notable New Zealand artists.
References
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Category:Created via preloaddraft
Category:New Zealand women artists