Nicole Eisenman, The Triumph of Poverty, 2009, Oil on canvas, 165.1 x 208.3 cm. From the Collection of Bobbi and Stephen Rosenthal, New York City, Image courtesy Leo Koenig Inc., New York
Nicole Eisenman, Morning Studio, 2016, Oil on canvas, 167.6 x 210.8 cm, The Hort Family Collection. Image courtesy the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York.
Nicole Eisenman, Sloppy Bar Room Kiss, 2011, Oil on canvas, 99.1 × 121.9 cm, Collection of Cathy and Jonathan Miller. Image Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles, Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer
Nicole Eisenman, Selfie, 2014, Oil on canvas, 134.6 × 111.8 cm, Stephanie and Timothy Ingrassia. Image courtesy the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York. Image courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer
Nicole Eisenman, Beer Garden with Ulrike and Celeste, 2009, Oil on canvas, 165.1 × 208.3 cm, Hall Collection. Image courtesy Hall Art Foundation. Photo: Bryan Conley.
Past Exhibition
Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our exhibitions as accessible as possible for every visitor. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
For complete access information about the gallery, please visit https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit/access/.
Tactile objects are available in the exhibition spaces for visitors looking to help complete their mental image or understanding of the artworks.
Unfortunately a sculptural work titled Jewellery Tree is not accessible without the use of steps.To accommodate visitors who require alternative access, we offer this resource.
Content Warning: This exhibition contains some scenes of a sexual and violent nature as well as use of explicit language. Please speak to a member of staff for further information
★★★★★ “Manet, Renoir, Pieter Bruegel the Elder… are all grist to Eisenman’s mill, queering our readings of them all, quoting and riffing and making them all belong to our time, not theirs.” – The Guardian
★★★★★”Nicole Eisenman offers a world of distinctly adult pleasures.” – The i
This autumn, we present the first major UK retrospective of the artist Nicole Eisenman (b.1965, Verdun, France, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA).
Nicole Eisenman: What Happened brings together over 100 works from across the artist’s three-decade career – many of which have not previously been shown in the UK. Encompassing large-scale, monumental paintings alongside sculptures, monoprints, animation and drawings, the exhibition showcases the extraordinary range and formal inventiveness that characterises her practice.
Arranged chronologically across eight sections, the exhibition illuminates the critical, yet often highly humorous approach that Eisenman uses to explore some of the most prescient socio-political issues of the day. These encompass gender, identity and sexual politics, recent civic and governmental turmoil in the United States, protest and activism, and the impact of technology on personal relationships and romantic lives.
A full colour catalogue will accompany the show alongside as a rich public programme to help further explore the themes and issues raised by the exhibition and gain additional insights into the artists’ work and practice.
For more information, please find the press release here.
This exhibition has been made possible as a result of the Government Indemnity Scheme. Whitechapel Gallery would like to thank HM Government for providing Government Indemnity and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England for arranging the indemnity.
#WhatHappened
Nicole Eisenman (b. 1965, France, lives and works in Brooklyn, USA) works across painting, drawing, installation and sculpture. She received the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship award in 2015 for ‘expanding the expressive potential of the figurative tradition in works that engage contemporary social issues and restore cultural significance to the representation of the human form.’ Additionally, she has been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship (1996), Carnegie Prize (2013), the Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize (2018), and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018.
Her work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, such as Nicole Eisenman: Untitled (show) at Hauser & Wirth, New York (2022); Heads, Kisses, Battles: Nicole Eisenman and the Moderns at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld (2021), which travelled to Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (2022), Foundation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles (2022) and Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Hague (2022); Nicole Eisenman: Giant Without a Body at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (2021); and Nicole Eisenman: Sturm und Drang at The Contemporary Austin, Austin (2020). Her work has also been included in the Whitney Biennial in 1995, 2012, and 2019, and the 2019 Venice Biennale, as well as having been acquired by public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Tate, London.
Lunch Matters. You know it does, we know it does…especially after (or before) seeing an exhibition, so look what we’ve done:
Purchase a special ‘Lunch Matters’ ticket and get discounted entry to our fabulous Nicole Eisenman exhibition as well as a splendid 2-course lunch from the set menu at our acclaimed restaurant, Townsend, between 12 – 2pm, Tues – Sat. Gift horse. Mouth.
Book your ticket here
Make your reservation here
Advance Bookings only, separate restaurant reservation essential.
Nicole Eisenman: What Happened has been generously supported by:Hauser & WirthAnton Kern GalleryVielmetter Los AngelesNicole Eisenman Exhibition Circle:Igor and Anastasia Bukhman, Richard Chang, De Ying Foundation, Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, Green Family Art Foundation, Oliver Haarmann, Rennie Collection, Craig Robins, Tony and Elham Salamé, Gary Steele and Steven Rice.
