Nicole Eisenman’s Sketch for a Fountain
The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas announced the acquisition and promised gift of artist Nicole Eisenman’s group of five sculptures titled Sketch for a Fountain, now on view in the Nasher’s Garden.
Born in Verdun, France, Eisenman attended Rhode Island School of Design and is currently based in Brooklyn. Her work explores the absurd, the banal, the countercultural, and the queer with references to artists such as Philip Guston, Pablo Picasso, Pieter Bruegel, and Max Beckmann.
Eisenman made sculpture as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design but only returned to it a few years ago. Sketch for a Fountain was originally presented at Skulptur Projekte Münster in 2017. Comprised of five figures in bronze, Sketch for a Fountain was inspired by the long history of fountains, one of the oldest forms of public art. Eisenman’s androgynous, larger-than-life, fleshy bronze figures lounge by the fountains, recalling Greek sculpture and Cézanne’s Bathers. The three figures with water elements were purchased through the Kaleta A. Doolin Acquisition Fund for Women Artists, and the two sculptures without water elements are a promised gift from the Green Family Collection.
Nasher’s director Jeremy Strick states: “This group of works by Nicole Eisenman joins the ranks of some of the most important figurative sculpture of the modern era in the Nasher collection, and we are exceedingly grateful to the generosity of patrons Kaleta A. Doolin and Debbie and Eric Green for this thoughtful gift. In addition to fortifying this dialogue with art history, the whimsical sculptures will undoubtedly bring great delight to all of our visitors and enhance the appreciation of the garden’s design.”
