Nicole Eisenman Wins MacArthur Fellowship

Artist Nicole Eisenman has done it again! The 50–year-old painter and sculptor who attended school in Scarsdale has won a MacArthur Genius Award, granting her $625,000 over five years to use as she wishes. Eisenman was one of only 24 people selected to receive the prestigious award that affords the recipients complete freedom to express their creativity during the five-year term. Others on this year's list include Lin-Manuela Miranda who wrote, produced and stars in the Broadway hit "Hamilton, " and Marina Rustow of Princeton University who is mining ancient texts to shed new light on Jewish life in the medieval Middle East.

Eisenman uses her artwork to make statements on contemporary issues such as politics, gender, history, mores, technology, family, wealth and power and "sometimes paints the world the way she wants it to be." In a video on the MacArthur Foundation website, Eisenman explores her sources of inspiration and says she had two great aunts who were painters and that she grew up in a house full of their art. She loves the visceral quality of painting and the connection between her eye, her hand, the paint and the canvas.

According to Eiseman, "The Fellowship gives me an extra boost of confidence to go forth and do what I have been trying to do my whole life."

Eisenman has been receiving accolades for the last several years. In 2012, 45 of her portraits were displayed in the Whitney Biennial, in 2013, she won the Carnegie Prize and in 2014 she had a solo show at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis and also travelled to St. Petersburg Russia where her work was displayed in the Manifesta 10 show.

Eisenman grew up on Brewster Road in Greenacres and is the daughter of former Scarsdale Trustee Kay Eisenman. She attended Scarsdale High School and art classes taught by Joan Busing. Two murals that she painted on the walls of Scarsdale High School remained for 20 years before they were taken down. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1987. Asked for a comment on the momentous news, her mother Kay and father Shelly said, "We are humbled by this honor but don't feel we can take too much credit. She has had a very fortunate trajectory with her art and we are always waiting with bated breath for her next step."