Nancy Kienholz

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Nancy Kienholz , born as Nancy Reddin (born December 9, 1943 in Los Angeles , California , USA ; † August 7, 2019 in Houston ) was an American photographer , object artist, and conceptual artist . She lived in Hope, Idaho , Houston, Texas, and Berlin .

life and work

Nancy Reddin was born in Los Angeles in 1943, the daughter of a police officer and a real estate agent. She trained as a photographer. In 1972 she met Edward ("Ed") Kienholz , whom she married that same year. From this point on, the two began their artistic collaboration as the artist couple Edward & Nancy Kienholz , although Nancy Kienholz's contribution to the joint work was initially not made known. It was not until 1981 that Edward Kienholz published that the works ascribed to him had been joint works since 1972. Ed & Nancy Kienholz are considered to be two of the leading neodadaist artists who made the step from a Dadaist environment to object assembly. From 1973 on, Nancy Kienholz lived and worked alternately in Germany (in Cologne and Berlin) and in Hope.

In 1972 she and Edward Kienholz participated in Documenta 5 in Kassel in the Individual Mythologies department with the anti- racism installation Five Car Stud . In Berlin in 1975 and 1976, the two artists examined site-specific history, for example in Still Live and Volksempfänger Series, taking into account used things and objects . From 1975 to 1983, they addressed gender-specific discrimination with the series The Kienholz Women and The Kienholz Men . You dealt with memories attached to objects in 1981: Portrait of a Mother with Past Affixed Also . They addressed social injustice and taboos in The Caddy Court in 1986 and 1987 . From 1987 to 1989 they dealt with war themes with The Big Double Cross . Non-public violence and abuse as in Jody, Jody, Jody from 1993 to 1994 were also important themes in her artistic work.

Nancy Kienholz worked with her husband until his death in 1994 and still staged his funeral ceremony as an artistic act.

Literature and Sources

  • Exhibition catalog: documenta 5. Survey of Reality - Imagery Today. Catalog (as a folder) Volume 1: Material; Volume 2: List of exhibits. Kassel 1972.
  • documenta archive (ed.); Resubmission d5 - A survey of the archive on documenta 1972. Kassel / Ostfildern 2001, ISBN 3-7757-1121-X .
  • L. Weschler (Ed.): Edward Kienholz. 2 volumes. Los Angeles 1977.
  • J. Harten (Eds.): Edward and Nancy Kienholz. 1980's. Exhibition catalog. Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and others, Düsseldorf / Vienna 1989.
  • RL Pincus (Ed.): On a Scale that Competes with the World. The Art of Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz. Berkeley 1990.
  • W. Hopps: Kienholz. A retrospective. Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz. Whitney Museum of American Art , New York / London 1996. (Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Munich 1997)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kienholz, Nancy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kienholz, Nancy Reddin; Reddin Kienholz, Nancy; Reddin, Nancy (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American concept and installation artist
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles California , USA
DATE OF DEATH 7th August 2019
Place of death Houston