Hello, my name is Elizabeth Lemieux. I am a senior at Southern New Hampshire University majoring in Communication. With the exception of the 2020/2021 school year, I have been working with the McIninch Art Gallery since my freshman year. Nicole Eisenman’s exhibit is something of an anomaly. Their art has been with us since March 2020. The exhibit was open for mere days before the country shut down. Arriving back on campus this Fall, we were welcomed by the familiar faces and figures of Eisenman’s work. We are given the opportunity and the time to experience, analyze, and form our own opinions and interpretations of these prints.
Upon first glance, Eisenman’s Artist is a bunch of lines and shapes coming together to create the figure of a man. As one looks longer, they may notice the beret atop his head, the paintbrushes in his hand, the mustache on his face. In the background, you see the Eiffel Tower and an outline of the city. The sun hovers to the left of the man with a frown on its personified face.
When children learn about art, this is often the first image of an artist they are introduced to: a man in Paris with a beret on his head, painting a landscape of the city, but why? The first use of the beret can be traced back to 1840 when it was being made in Oloron Sainte Marie, Nicole Kliest from The Zoe Report states. Around that time, they were mostly worn by farmers and sheep herders. As time went on, berets were established as a part of the military uniform and became a symbol for revolutionaries as many were photographed wearing the hat. Today, berets are often only associated with artists, even though they can be found further in history.
An artist is much more than Paris and berets. This begs the question, why this image? Why aren’t we shown a woman with a pixie cut sculpting a tree in Concord, NH? Or a young child making a snow angel in Greenland? A question such as this may seem silly. Perhaps with Artist, Eisenman is posing a more urgent concern of equality and how traditional stereotypes limit those who don’t quite fit the mold. Perhaps, they created Artist because they felt like it or because they meant to use this piece as a talking point for the beliefs and views they have already expressed. Either way, there is something to be said—a curiosity to be had—about why this print was made and why it was given this title.
Elizabeth Lemieux
Communications Major
Senior at SNHU
