Isabelle Jonette Johnson (1901–1992) was a pioneering American painter who became one of Montana's first modernist artists, and her family ranch in Stillwater County has since been transformed into the renowned Tippet Rise outdoor sculpture park. After studying at Columbia University and being selected for the inaugural 1946 class of the experimental Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, she returned to Montana, where she devoted her career to painting the Stillwater River Valley and Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains, inspired by the bold color of French Post-Impressionists like Gauguin. As a professor at Montana State University Billings from 1949 to 1961 (serving as department head), she courageously introduced her students to Modernism, famously influencing future artist Theodore Waddell, who declared that meeting her made him decide to dedicate his life to art. Johnson received the Montana Governor's Award for the Arts in 1983 and a Distinguished Service Award from Eastern Montana College in 1984, recognizing her significant contributions. Her enduring legacy is preserved at the Yellowstone Art Museum, which holds over 800 of her works and published a comprehensive anthology of her life and art in 2015, cementing her status as a trailblazing regional modernist.