Ishbel Myerscough
Ishbel Myerscough is recognised for her highly detailed and meticulously observed portraits that portray human connection. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art (1987–91) and the Slade School of Art in London (1993–5). Rather than worrying if the portraits are anatomically correct, she focuses on capturing the relationship between subject and artist: ‘I’m not that interested in a likeness, particularly, I want a feeling from them.’ Myerscough won the National Portrait Gallery BP Portrait Award in 1995 and has since been commissioned by the gallery to paint portraits of Helen Mirren and Sir Willard Wentworth White for the collection. Her work has been in constant dialogue with painter and long-time friend since art school, Chantal Joffe, whose work is also represented in The Women’s Art Collection. They have painted each other, and their families, for more than twenty years, exploring the changes in their bodies as well as their friendship. The two artists had a joint exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 2015.
