April Eisman
Assistant Professor, Integrated Studio Arts

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 East Germany (GDR) & Leipzig
Contemporary art and theory

Selected Publications
"In the Crucible: Bernhard Heisig and the Hotel Deutschland Murals," in Amy Wlodarski and Elaine Kelly, eds., Art Outside the Lines: New Perspectives on GDR Art Culture. (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2011) 21-39.

"Painting the Berlin Wall in Leipzig: The Politics of Art 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

“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

German Publications
"Heisigs Geisterbahn," in Ruediger Kuettner, ed. Bernhard Heisig, Eine unendliche Geschichte. (Berlin: Galerie Berlin, 2010) 126-7

 “Eine ‘US-Amerikanische’ Sicht auf Bernhard Heisig,” Gestern und in dieser Zeit – Bernhard Heisig zum Achzigsten. (Leipzig: Faber & Faber, 2005) 42-5

Recent Conferences
German Studies Association, Louisville, KY (Sept 2011)
Paper: "Rewriting the East German Past: The Contemporary Reception of Heisig and Rauch"
Panel organizer & moderator: "A Multidisciplinary Look at the Future of German Studies"

German Studies Association, Oakland, CA (Oct 2010)
Panel commentary: "The Visual Arts in Cold War Germany and Beyond"
Panel commentary: "Space and Place in Modern and Contemporary German Art"

College Art Association, Chicago, IL (Feb 2010)
Paper: "Painting the Wall in East Germany"

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 commentary: "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 commentary: “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”
 

Selected Grants & Fellowships
Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, Iowa State (2008 & 2010)
Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies
German Academic Exchange Service / DAAD
Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (Summer & Academic Year)
Arts and Sciences Fellowship, Pittsburgh University

 

Current Projects
Book Projects
- Bernhard Heisig and the Fight for Modern Art in Communist East Germany (completed)
- East German Women Artists: Angela Hampel & the Contradictions of "Equality" in a Communist State

Articles in the Works
- Painting the East German Experience: Neo Rauch in the Late 1990s (completed)
- The Bilderstreit and its Legacy: Bernhard Heisig as a Case Study of the Post-Wall Reception of East German Art (completed)
- East German Art and the Permeability of the Wall (completed)
- Fighting Fascism in East German Art: The Case of Bernhard Heisig

Courses Regularly Taught
History of Art I
Modern Art & Theory 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
146 College of Design
Ames, IA, 50011

CURRENT SCHOLARSHIP

• Painting the Berlin Wall in Leipzig: The Politics of Art in 1960s East Germany, 10/01/2010
• In the Crucible: Bernhard Heisig and the Hotel Deutschland Murals, 06/01/2011