Heads, Kisses, Battles: Nicole Eisenman and the Moderns

Human existence, social conventions and conflicts, along with questions of identity, are constant themes in the artistic work of Nicole Eisenman (b. 1965). Compositional elements from the Renaissance, history painting and modern art find expression in their art, as well as contemporary aspects of pop and subculture.

The exhibition Heads, Kisses, Battles places Eisenman’s oeuvre in a dialogue with works of modern art. Over 70 paintings and works on paper from all periods of Nicole Eisenman’s career meet up with works from the collection of the Aargauer Kunsthaus and our partner institutions.

The exhibition is being organized in close cooperation with Nicole Eisenman, and in collaboration with the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag.

Nicole Eisenman’s figurative art is a condensation of the lived present: heads manifest emotions, kisses are exchanged in intimate poses and battles fought out on different levels. The assignment of gender or ethnicity is often impossible, and instead Eisenman’s depictions are distinguished by changing bodies, fluid states and queerness. By this means Nicole Eisenman is opting in favour of an image of society that strenghtens diversity far from binary attributions.

Bringing works by Eisenman together with historical artistic positions gives visual form to the fact that there are parallels in both content and form between individual paintings and thematic groups of works, even if in some cases they were made over 100 years apart.

When Eisenman draws on the history of painting, it is never a matter of mere adoption or simple reference. What follows is always an innovative transformation of something that already exists, carefully embedding it in the contemporary context.

Historic artistic positions:
Karel Appel (1921–2006), Gerd Arntz (1900–1988), Hans Arp (1886–1966), Alice Bailly (1972–1938), Karl Ballmer (1891–1958), Max Beckmann (1884–1950), Paul Camenisch (1893–1970), James Ensor (1860–1949), Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966), Valery Heussler (1920–2007), Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Max Gubler (1898–1973), Alexej von Jawlensky (1864–1941), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938), Herman Kruyder (1881–1935), Paula Modersohn- Becker (1876–1907), Max von Moos (1903–1979), Otto Morach (1887–1973), Otto Mueller (1874–1930), Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Emil Nolde (1867–1956), Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Georges Rouault (1871–1958), Hermann Scherer, (1893–1927), Oskar Schlemmer (1888–1943), Wilhelm Schmid (1892–1971), Hermann Stenner (1891–1914), Félix Vallotton (1865–1925), Co Westerik (1924–2018), Walter Kurt Wiemken (1907–1941), Gustave van de Woestyne (1881–1947)