1996: 50 Works for 50 Years

James Eisentrager

Zuider #20 

James Eisentrager (1929 – 2002) received his B.A. in 1951 from Augustana College (now Augustana University) in Sioux Falls, SD, and his MFA from the University of Iowa in 1961. He was a Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln from 1961 until his retirement in 1996. Eisentrager painted representationally until 1968 and then his works became more geometric and mathematical through a focus on geometric principles and theories of root rectangles. He used color to striking effect at times and described himself as a “structuralist,” identifying with the anti-expressionist tradition of geometric abstraction. “My work is about structure, composition, proportion, balance and equilibrium. These are not emotions, but they interest me.”

In 1996 the artist gifted three of his paintings to the museum, underlining the ties he maintained to South Dakota.