Big Money

Austin art museum bestows one of the world's most ambitious prizes on New York artist

Nicole Eisenman's "Sketch for a Fountain."

Photo by Henning Rogge/The Contemporary Austin

For the second time, The Contemporary Austin has bestowed one of the art world's most prestigious prizes on an American artist. On August 3, the museum announced Nicole Eisenman as the recipient of the 2020 Suzanne Deal Booth/Flag Foundation Prize.

Eisenman's award includes $200,000 in cash; a solo show at The Contemporary; and up to $600,000 for production, travel costs, and the creation of an educational catalog. All combined, the prize is one of the world's most ambitious (read: largest) offered to working artists.

The New York City-based Eisenman blends Western art history and traditional figures with "elements of punk music, feminist activism, queer sexuality, humor, and emotional rawness." The artist, who has been working for nearly four decades, has traditionally worked in two-dimensional formats (collage, painting, photography, etc.), but her work has recently expanded to include indoor and outdoor sculpture.

"Nicole's recent turn to three-dimensional work is a testament to this next chapter: her anti-monumental and enigmatic sculptures bring the painted bodies from her canvases into three-dimensional space," said the Contemporary's Heather Pesanti in a release. "The relationship between these objects and her paintings was perhaps always present, and is a thread that the artist may be able to further explore through this exhibition and book."

Pesanti, who serves as chief curator and director of curatorial affairs for The Contemporary, led a seven person selection committee comprised of curators and art historians from some of the nation's top museums. "Nicole Eisenman is an artist with whom I've wanted to work for years, so it's incredibly exciting that the advisory committee selected her for this next prize," said Pesanti.

In May, the museum announced it was expanding the prize, which was originally created by Austin art patron Suzanne Deal Booth in 2016. Today, the prize is a collaboration between the Austin museum, Booth, and the New York-based Flag Foundation. Following Eisenman's 2020 show at the Contemporary's Jones Center, it will move to the Flag Art Foundation.

Eisenman is the second recipient of the Booth Prize. The inaugural winner, Rodney McMillian, opened his exhibition "Against a Civic Death" at The Contemporary in February. It runs through August 26.

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New

Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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