MASTERPIECES FROM THE BEN URI COLLECTION
ERNST EISENMAYER (1920-2018)
INTERNMENT IN DOUGLAS
1940
Watercolour, graphite and pen and ink on paper and board
Signed and dated (lower right): 'E Dec 40'
ERNST EISENMAYER
Ernnst Eisenmayer’s Internment in Douglas is a quietly powerful ink and wash composition that captures the eerie stillness and architectural dissonance of life in wartime confinement Executed in a restrained monochrome palette, the drawing depicts the Mooragh Camp in Douglas, Isle of Man one of several inter-
nment camps for so-called 'enemy aliens' during the Second World War, where Eisenmayer was held from 1940 to 1941 The delicate tonal shifts and soft washes evoke the subdued atmosphere of the internment landscape, while the rhythmic verticals of fencing and architectural columns frame the scene with a sense of rigid containment. Foregrounded is a lone figure, possibly an internee or guard, walking beneath the shadow of ornate Victorian buildings repurposed for imprisonment The visual irony of the Gothic revival turrets symbols of leisure and grandeur transformed into a backdrop for captivity is characteristic of Eisenmayer’s ability to express exile and displacement with quiet potency The perspective is slightly flattened, suggesting a psychological rather than purely observational space Created under constraint with minimal materials, the work exemplifies Eisenmayer’s resourcefulness and commitment to art-making as an act of documentation and resistance Internment in Douglas stands not only as a historical record, but as a deeply personal meditation on loss, endurance, and the dignity of observation amid dislocation.
Painter and sculptor Ernst Eisenmayer was born into a Jewish family of Austro- Hungarian descent in Vienna, Austria on 18 September 1920 Following Hitler's accession to the Chancellorship Germany in 1933 and the rise of increasingly anti Semitic legislation, followed by the Anschluss panoramic (annexation of Austria) in 1938, Eisenmayer was imprisoned, aged 18, in Dachau Concentration Camp, where he witnessed many atrocities and made a series of drawings. In 1939 he managed to escape to England (as he later narrated in his memoir, (‘A Strange Haircut'), but following the introduction of internment for so-called ‘enemy aliens’ in June 1940, he was interned on the Isle of Man from October 1940 until August 1941, first in Central (until February 1941), then Onchan, and finally at Mooragh Camp He made art throughout internment, often using improvised materials, sketching portraits of fellow internees, landscapes, camp views and everyday scenes; he also participated in the Onchan camp art exhibition, organised in April 1941, and one of his drawings was reproduced in the camp magazine, 'The Onchan Pioneer' After release, he joined the Young Austria movement, where he met fellow refugee artists Erich Deutsch (Eric Doitch) and Heinz Inländer (Henry Inlander) who became close friends, and with whom he afterwards studied at Camberwell School of Art (1946–47). In 1944 his work was included in an exhibition of Austrian art in exile.
Postwar Eisenmayer initially worked for a small London firm designing and making jewellery, but as his reputation grew he decided to become a full-time artist in 1962 He held solo exhibitions in several cities including London, Osaka, and his birthplace, Vienna In 1962 he held a solo exhibition at Ben Uri's Berners Street Gallery and ten years later, he became a member of the Ben Uri Arts Committee Between 1974 and 1988 he lived in Italy, then spent eight years in Amsterdam, before eventually returning to his native Vienna in 1996. He died in Vienna, Austria on 27 March 2018. His work is held in UK collections including the Ben Uri Collection, Kings Lynn Museums, Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery and Southlands College Eisenmayer's work has recently undergone a critical reassessment In 2002 the exhibition 'About the Dignity of Man: Ernst Eisenmayer – Life and Work' was held at the Jewish Museum, Vienna and in 2010 his painting 'Strip Poker' closed Ben Uri’s 2010 exhibition 'Forced Journeys', which toured to Douglas on the Isle of Man and Birkenhead, to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Manx internment camps, followed by a solo exhibition 'Art Beyond Exile' curated by Prof Fran Lloyd at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London, and the Sayle Gallery, Douglas, Isle of Man in 2012.
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