Edward Kienholz
Back Seat Dodge '381964

Not on view

Mixed-media sculpture of a vintage rounded sedan covered in slate-blue coating, displayed on artificial turf, with headlights lit, driver's door open revealing a figure's legs inside, and glass bottles scattered nearby

Large-scale sculptural installation of a 1930s-style two-door sedan, painted matte blue with visible brushwork, displayed on artificial grass. The front end curves and sags toward the ground, with chrome headlamp details intact.

Sculptural installation: rear three-quarter view of a worn, matte blue vintage automobile body, wheelless and resting on a rectangular patch of artificial grass. Illuminated red taillights glow at the bumper, which bears a yellow license plate reading "C-692 EVERYWHERE USA." A chrome bumper and winged hood ornament are visible; small bottles lie scattered on the grass nearby.

Mixed-media sculptural installation of a weathered blue vintage automobile with its door open, illuminated headlights, resting low on a grass surface; interior contains soft, draped fabric forms, with scattered bottles on the ground nearby.

Color photograph of a weathered blue 1930s–40s automobile on a grass surface against a sunset gradient sky, rear door open to reveal a figure in white lace clothing reclining inside, headlights illuminated, scattered bottles on the ground nearby.

Mixed-media installation featuring a rusted, weathered blue automobile with the driver's door open, interior filled with a human figure constructed from chicken wire and painted plaster, slumped across the front seat; scattered bottles on artificial grass below.

Mixed-media sculptural installation featuring a reclining human figure constructed from wire mesh and found materials, posed inside a deteriorating vintage automobile interior surrounded by bottles and assorted debris, in dusty earth tones.

Photograph of a large figurative sculpture in progress, showing the lower legs and feet in worn leather shoes, constructed over a wire mesh armature with a papier-mâché or plaster surface, resting on a dusty studio floor surrounded by tools and materials.

Mixed-media sculpture resembling a vehicle interior viewed through wire mesh, with blue foam-covered exterior featuring hexagonal texture, enclosing wrapped forms and elongated figured elements in warm tones.

Mixed-media sculptural installation featuring a life-sized human figure constructed from wire mesh, burlap, and found materials, slumped inside an aged blue vehicle interior, with visible cigarettes, bottles, and worn shoes on the floor.

Artist or Maker: Edward Kienholz
United States, Washington, active Indiana, Hope, and California, Los Angeles, 1927-1994
Title: Back Seat Dodge '38
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1964
Medium: Paint, fiberglass and flock, 1938 Dodge, recorded music, and player, chicken wire, beer bottles, artificial grass, and cast plaster figures.
Dimensions: 66 x 120 x 156 in. (167.64 x 304.8 x 396.24 cm); Current footprint: 120 x 145 in. (304.8 x 368.3cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Art Museum Council Fund
Accession Number: M.81.248a-f
Classification: Time Based Media
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Selected Bibliography: Lamanna, Mary Ann and Riedmann, Agnes. Marriages and Families: Making Choices in a Diverse Society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Francis, Mark, ed. Les Années Pop. Paris: Editions du Centre Pompidou, 2001.
Marcus, Greil. "Back Seat." Surrounding Interiors: Views Inside the Car. 2wice Arts Foundation, Inc., Volume 5, Number 2 (October 2001).
Schneede, Uwe M. Die Geschichte der Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert. München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2001.
Powell III, Earl A., Robert Winter, and Stephanie Barron. The Robert O. Anderson Building. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.
Barron, Stephanie, S. Bernstein and I. S. Fort, with essays by Stephanie Barron, Sherri Bernstein, M. Dear, Howard N. Fox and Richard Rodriguez. Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley, 2000.
Waldman, Diane. Transformations in Sculpture: Four Decades of American and European Art. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1985.
Greenfield, Verni. Making Do or Making Art: A Study of American Recycling. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1984; 1986.
Tuchman, Maurice. Art in Los Angeles: Seventeen Artists in the Sixties. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.
Tuchman, Maurice. Edward Kienholz. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1966.
Phil Freshman. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Report, July 1, 1981-June 30, 1983. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984.
Schrank, Sarah. Art and the City: Civic Imagination and Cultural Authority in Los Angeles. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
Chavoya, C. Ondine; Rita Gonzalez, eds. Asco: elite of the obscure, a retrospective, 1972-1987. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2011.
Muchnic, Suzanne. LACMA So Far: Portrait of a Museum in the Making. San Marino, California: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2015.
Inside Cars. New York: 2wice Arts Foundation, 2001.
Meyer, James. Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971. Washington: National Gallery of Art; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Saar, Betye, and Jonathan Griffin. "Influences: Betye Saar." Frieze no.182 (October 2016): 218-223.
Nittve, Lars, and Cecile Whiting. Time & Place: Los Angeles 1957-1968. Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 2008
Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.
Edward Kienholz. Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich; London: Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1971.
Thwaites, John Anthony. "Kienholz and Realism." Art and Artists 8, no.6 (1973): 22-27.
Copyright: © The Edward and Nancy Kienholz Foundation, Inc. Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA.

Related Unframed

Edward Kienholz
Back Seat Dodge '381964

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Edward Kienholz
United States, Washington, active Indiana, Hope, and California, Los Angeles, 1927-1994
Title: Back Seat Dodge '38
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1964
Medium: Paint, fiberglass and flock, 1938 Dodge, recorded music, and player, chicken wire, beer bottles, artificial grass, and cast plaster figures.
Dimensions: 66 x 120 x 156 in. (167.64 x 304.8 x 396.24 cm); Current footprint: 120 x 145 in. (304.8 x 368.3cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Art Museum Council Fund
Accession Number: M.81.248a-f
Classification: Time Based Media
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Selected Bibliography: Lamanna, Mary Ann and Riedmann, Agnes. Marriages and Families: Making Choices in a Diverse Society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Francis, Mark, ed. Les Années Pop. Paris: Editions du Centre Pompidou, 2001.
Marcus, Greil. "Back Seat." Surrounding Interiors: Views Inside the Car. 2wice Arts Foundation, Inc., Volume 5, Number 2 (October 2001).
Schneede, Uwe M. Die Geschichte der Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert. München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2001.
Powell III, Earl A., Robert Winter, and Stephanie Barron. The Robert O. Anderson Building. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.
Barron, Stephanie, S. Bernstein and I. S. Fort, with essays by Stephanie Barron, Sherri Bernstein, M. Dear, Howard N. Fox and Richard Rodriguez. Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley, 2000.
Waldman, Diane. Transformations in Sculpture: Four Decades of American and European Art. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1985.
Greenfield, Verni. Making Do or Making Art: A Study of American Recycling. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1984; 1986.
Tuchman, Maurice. Art in Los Angeles: Seventeen Artists in the Sixties. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.
Tuchman, Maurice. Edward Kienholz. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1966.
Phil Freshman. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Report, July 1, 1981-June 30, 1983. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984.
Schrank, Sarah. Art and the City: Civic Imagination and Cultural Authority in Los Angeles. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
Chavoya, C. Ondine; Rita Gonzalez, eds. Asco: elite of the obscure, a retrospective, 1972-1987. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2011.
Muchnic, Suzanne. LACMA So Far: Portrait of a Museum in the Making. San Marino, California: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2015.
Inside Cars. New York: 2wice Arts Foundation, 2001.
Meyer, James. Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971. Washington: National Gallery of Art; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Saar, Betye, and Jonathan Griffin. "Influences: Betye Saar." Frieze no.182 (October 2016): 218-223.
Nittve, Lars, and Cecile Whiting. Time & Place: Los Angeles 1957-1968. Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 2008
Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.
Edward Kienholz. Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich; London: Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1971.
Thwaites, John Anthony. "Kienholz and Realism." Art and Artists 8, no.6 (1973): 22-27.
Copyright: © The Edward and Nancy Kienholz Foundation, Inc. Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA.