Education PhD, History of Art & Architecture, University of Pittsburgh MA, History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London BA, English & Art History, Lawrence University
Research Interests German art since 1933, especially the German Democratic Republic & Leipzig Contemporary art and theory
Current Projects - Understanding Neo Rauch (article) - Fighting Fascism in East German Art: The Case of Bernhard Heisig (article) - Bernhard Heisig and the Fight for Modern Art in Communist East Germany (book)
Articles "In the Crucible: Bernhard Heisig and the Hotel Deutschland Murals," in Amy Wlodarski and Elaine Kelly, eds., Reconsidering the Role of the Arts in the GDR. Forthcoming"Picturing the Berlin Wall in 1960s East Germany," in Sabine Hake and Philip Broadbent, eds., Berlin. Divided City, 1949-1989. (New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010) 83-95“Playing with the Political: Feng Mengbo’s Streetfighter IV,” Yishu, Journal for Contemporary Chinese Art, vol. 5, no. 1, Spring 2006, 101-7“Eine ‘US-Amerikanische’ Sicht auf Bernhard Heisig,” Gestern und in dieser Zeit – Bernhard Heisig zum Achzigsten. (Leipzig: Faber & Faber, 2005) 42-5“The Media of Manipulation: Mainstream News in the U.S. in the Weeks Following 9/11” Critical Quarterly, Spring/Summer 2003, vol. 45, issue 1/2, pp. 55-72 Reviews “Between Compulsion and Persuasion: Cultural Authority in the GDR,” review of panel 64 at the 2009 German Studies Association Conference for H-German (forthcoming)
“An East Germanist’s Perspective on the Catalog, Art of Two Germanys / Cold War Cultures,” review of the LACMA exhibition catalog for German History 2009 27(4): 628-630
“Art as Unofficial Diplomat,” review of Christian Saehrendt’s book, Kunst als Botschafter einer künstlichen Nation (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2009) for H-German, September 30, 2009. Recent Conferences The Fall of the Wall Reconsidered. Progress and Perspectives Twenty Years After the Wende, Northwestern University & Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena, Evanston, IL (October 2009) Paper: “The Post-Wall Reception of East German Painting: Bernhard Heisig as Case Study” German Studies Association, Arlington, VA (October 2009) Paper: "Bernhard Heisig: Painting Fascism, Past and Present" Panel Commentator: "Between Compulsion and Persuasion: Cultural Authority in the GDR"Latin American Studies Association, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (June 2009) Paper: "East German Artists Respond to the 1973 Putsch in Chile" (presented in absentia)College Art Association, Los Angeles, CA (Feb 2009) Paper: “Bernhard Heisig and the Fight for Modern Art in East Germany”Writing East German History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (Dec 2008) Paper: “Challenges in Writing About East German Art: The Case of Bernhard Heisig”German Art & Culture After 1933, Iowa State University, Ames, IA (Oct 2008) Paper: “Neo Rauch: A Contemporary Painter in Context”German Studies Association, St. Paul, MN (Oct 2008) Panel Commentator: “Post-Wende Exhibitions and Evaluations of GDR Art” Berlin, Divided City, University of Texas, Austin, Austin, TX (Mar 2008) Paper: “Picturing the Berlin Wall in 1960s East Germany”Reconsidering the Role of the Arts in the GDR, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA (Oct 2007) Paper: “In the Crucible: Bernhard Heisig and the Hotel ‘Deutschland’ Murals” Courses Regularly Taught History of Art I Modern Art to 1945 Art & Theory After 1945 Art & Dictatorships
Contact Information
Phone: (515) 294-8513
Email: eismana@iastate.edu
Office: 383 Design
Mailing Address
Art and Design Department 158 College of Design Ames, IA, 50011
