Art is in the DNA of Isabel de Vasconcellos. A curator, writer and cultural producer, she has over 20 years experience working with some of the world’s top artists, galleries and museums.

Born in Lisbon, she grew up in London and Brussels, returning to the UK to read Modern History and French at Oxford University. The grand-daughter of painter Gustavo de Vasconcellos, she followed the family path, taking an M.A. in Post-War and Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute in London before joining White Cube as Artist and Museums Liaison at the height of the Young British Artist boom.

Joining Sir Antony Gormley to work on Quantum Cloud for the Millennium Dome (now part of The Line), she stayed on to help deliver public commissions throughout the UK and Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as exhibitions at Tate St Ives, the British Museum, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Hayward Gallery, and the British Council tour of Asian Field in China. Other institutional shows including at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon); Kunsthal Rotterdam; Musée d'art Moderne de Saint-Etienne; in Spain at Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela; ICA Singapore; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso (Mexico).

On graduating from her M.A., Isabel collaborated with Tony Godfrey on the writing of Conceptual Art for Phaidon Press’s Art & Ideas series, and she has since written widely on sculpture, painting, photography and design. In 2016, her expertise in public art led the Mayor of London to commission her to write Fourth Plinth: How London Created the Smallest Sculpture Park in the World.

A regular public speaker and discussion chair, she is the host of the Royal Society of Sculptors’ popular series of artist interviews, Behind the Studio Doors.

Previously Director of Sculpture for Messums Wiltshire, she is co-founder of I DE V / l’étrangère at 55 Riding House Street, Fitzrovia.

In 2009, she set up her own consultancy as independent curator, cultural producer and adviser. She is widely sought for her discerning eye, pragmatism and extensive experience collaborating with artists and visual arts organisations to produce world-class exhibitions, commissions and publications.

Cultivating strong and trusted relationships with a diverse network of contacts, she has built a reputation for diplomacy and discretion, at ease managing the public profile of prominent clients, whilst maintaining confidentiality at all times.  

Together with a trusted team of fabricators, designers, engineers and other art professionals, I DE V delivers exhibitions, and permanent and temporary art in the public realm with a personal approach, and to the highest standards of creative excellence.

Isabel is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and Patron of AIDS Memory UK, the campaign for a London AIDS Memorial.