Eisner, Dorothy

Painter; New York City. Born 1906.

Dorothy Eisner (1906-1984) was an American artist whose career spanned more than five decades. She was born and raised in New York, and studied at the Art Students League, briefly in France, and with Jack Tworkov. With the exception of three years, Eisner resided and had painting studios in the Greenwich Village section of New York City, though generally spent her summers painting in rural settings in North Carolina, New York, Montana, and Maine, among other places. She was a member of the Society of Independent Artists and the American Artists' Congress, and was a founding member of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors. She also exhibited with the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.

Dorothy Eisner met the writer John McDonald in New York in 1935; they were married there on November 7, 1936, while each was employed by the federal government, McDonald with the Federal Writers' Project, and Eisner with the Resettlement Administration. The following spring the couple left their jobs and traveled to Mexico City with members of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky, a group of American liberals and intellectuals who supported the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials (also known as the Dewey Commission); while there Eisner painted portraits of Trotsky and the hearing room.

Dorothy Eisner was an American painter whose career spanned more than five decades. She was born in New York on January 17, 1906, the daughter of Florine (1883-1974) and William J. Eisner (1880-1975). Though William Eisner was a businessman and manufacturer, he and his wife were also painters active in art circles in the city and in Woodstock, New York, where they had a second home. Their two children, Dorothy and Anne (1911-1967), also became artists, studying at the Art Students League then briefly in France, and spending a summer (1931) with other artists on Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine.

Dorothy Eisner met the writer John McDonald in New York in 1935; they were married on November 7, 1936, while each was employed by the federal government, McDonald with the Federal Writers’ Project, and Eisner with the Resettlement Administration. The following spring the couple left their jobs and traveled to Mexico City with members of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky, a group of American liberals and intellectuals who supported the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials (also known as the Dewey Commission after its chairman, John Dewey). While McDonald worked on Trotsky’s administrative team, Eisner painted portraits of Trotsky and the hearing room.

With the exception of living in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, from 1942-1945, Eisner resided and had painting studios in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. She generally spent her summers painting in rural settings including Linville, North Carolina (1932-1935), Liebhardt, New York (1937-1942), Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (1947), and Livingston, Montana (1949-1958); the latter three were places to which she was introduced by her husband, an avid fisherman. From 1960 through her death, Eisner summered and painted on Cranberry Island, off the coast of Maine. She died in New York on April 28, 1984, survived by her husband, stepdaughter Joan (born 1929), and daughter Christie (born 1942).

Dorothy Eisner was a member of the Society of Independent Artists and the American Artists’ Congress, and was a founding member of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors. She also exhibited with the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.