Edward & Nancy Kienholz

Edward Kienholz (1927 – 1994) was an American installation artist and assemblage sculptor. His wife and collaborator Nancy Reddin Kienholz (1943 – 2019) was an American mixed media artist who worked in installation art, assemblage, photography, and lenticular printing.

In 1972, Edward Kienholz was awarded a grant from the German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD) which allowed the artist to live and work in West Berlin. The artists divided their time between Berlin and their home in rural Idaho until Edward Kienholz’s sudden death in 1994. Nancy Reddin Kienholz continued her art practice based in Hope, Idaho, until her death in 2019.

Their work has been the subject of numerous major exhibitions worldwide. In 1995, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York organized a retrospective which traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (1996–1997). Other museum exhibitions include Kienholz: Five Car Stud, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2016–2017); Kienholz: The Signs of the Times, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankurt and Museum Tinguely, Basel (2011–2012); Edward Kienholz: Five Car Stud Revisited, Los Angeles Museum County of Art, Los Angeles and Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek (2011–2012); The Hoerengracht, The National Gallery, London and Amsterdam Historical Museum, Amsterdam (2009–2010); KIENHOLZ, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead and Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney (2005–2006).

Their work can be found in public collections internationally. Selected institutions include Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondazione Prada, Milan; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum Ludwig, Köln; Menil Collection, Houston; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Francois Pinault Collection, Venice; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.