Kienholz Tableau Drawings

Drawings are conventionally thought of as handmade objects, on a flat surface, that can be hung on a wall. The works that Edward Kienholz termed drawings are, like his freestanding sculptures, assemblages of things found ready-made. They appeared as early as 1961, the year in which Kienholz produced the first of the room-sized sculptural tableaux that became synonymous with his name. The evolution of the drawings runs precisely parallel with that of the tableaux, stretching across the whole of his career, first as a sculptor working alone, and from 1972 in collaboration with his wife, Nancy Reddin Kienholz.

Until now the drawings have been shown and reproduced only in relation to the large sculptures. This handsome book examines this central and major body of work and explores the concept of "drawings" as a studio process for the Kienholzes