Edward Kienholz

The Non-War Memorial
1970/1972

Five empty green military uniforms are laid out on a wooden floor in an art gallery, giving the appearance of invisible bodies. A white pedestal with a glass case containing books and a framed text on the wall are also visible in the background.

Not on view

Date
1970/1972

Classification
Installations

Medium
Military uniforms, acrylic vitrine, seeds, sand, wood, metal, book

Dimensions
Dimensions variable

Accession number
2003.14a-h

Edition
Uniforms: Edition of 3Book: 7/25

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Nancy Reddin Kienholz

Rights and reproductions
© Nancy Reddin Kienholz

API
artworks/18206

Part of a series:

6 works

A monochromatic etching featuring a textured upper section with the words "IN MEMORIAL" and a lower section depicting a faint, geometric star with lines extending from its points. A small, detailed text box in the lower right corner appears to contain information about the artwork. The piece conveys a somber, reflective tone.

A monochromatic etching depicting a large, dark crater in the center of a barren landscape with the word "MEMORIAL" written in the sky above. The scene conveys a somber and reflective mood, with the crater suggesting a site of remembrance or impact. The artwork is signed and numbered at the bottom, indicating its status as a limited print.

A monochromatic etching featuring an abstract landscape with a textured upper half that resembles a corroded wall with the word "WAR" faintly visible. Below is a dark, shadowy field with a grid pattern overlaying it, and a group of small, indistinct shapes that could be interpreted as figures or debris. The bottom of the image includes handwritten text that reads "Waiting behind to be called on target" and is signed and dated by the artist.

A monochromatic artwork featuring a textured horizontal band with the words "WAR MEMORIAL" at the top and a simple outlined triangular shape labeled "LEAD BRICK WALL" and "SCATTERED ATOMIC WASTE" below it. The piece has a signature at the bottom left and is numbered at the bottom right.

This is a black and white etching featuring a textured, abstract landscape with the words "WAR MEMORIAL" prominently displayed in the sky. In the foreground, there is a stylized, flat, X-shaped figure, resembling a fallen or embedded monument, set against a dark, sweeping background that suggests a vast, open space. The artwork has handwritten inscriptions at the bottom, indicating the title, edition number, and artist's signature with the year '70.

Audio

Edward Kienholz, The Non War Memorial, 1970

In An Incomplete History of Protest (Spanish)

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Edward Kienholz, The Non War Memorial, 1970

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Narrator: Edward Kienholz, el artista responsable de Non War Memorial (No monumento a la guerra), se opuso vehementemente a las acciones militares por parte de Estados Unidos en Vietnam.
Jennie Goldstein: Como muchas de las instalaciones de Kienholz, es realmente como un cuadro.
Narrator: Curadora Adjunta Jennie Goldstein.
Jennie Goldstein: Entras en el espacio y te encuentras cara a cara con estas formas desparramadas, parecidas a cuerpos. En realidad son uniformes excedentes del ejército rellenos de arena. El cuadro es casi como un bosquejo o un modelo para algo que nunca llegó a realizar.
Su idea era ir a un campo de unas treinta hectáreas y colocar 50 000 de estos uniformes excedentes, los cuales, en lugar de estar rellenos de arena, estarían rellenos de un tipo de arcilla. Y, en su concepción, la arcilla y los uniformes se deteriorarían. La arcilla se dispersaría y se descompondría, y lo mismo ocurriría con los uniformes, que se descompondrían con el paso del tiempo. Así que se pasaría de tener un monumento real, algo que pudiera visitarse, a tener básicamente nada.
Y eso es lo que resulta tan interesante del título de la obra. De alguna manera, es realmente una suerte de no monumento a la guerra. No quedaría nada de él, nada que visitar, nada que conmemorar. Creo que es una forma apropiada de pensar en el sinsentido de toda esta muerte desde su perspectiva.
Edward Kienholz, The Non War Memorial, 1970

In An Incomplete History of Protest

0:00

Edward Kienholz, The Non War Memorial, 1970

0:00

Narrator: Edward Kienholz, the artist behind the Non War Memorial, vehemently opposed American military action in Vietnam.
Jennie Goldstein: Like many of Kienholz’s installations, it’s really like a tableau.
Narrator: Assistant Curator Jennie Goldstein.
Jennie Goldstein: You walk into the space and you find yourself face-to-face with these strewn, body-like forms. It’s actually sand stuffed inside of surplus army fatigue uniforms. The tableau is almost like a sketch or a model for something he was never able to realize.
His idea was that he would go to this seventy-five-acre meadow and there he would take 50,000 of these surplus uniforms, and instead of being filled with sand, they would be filled with slurred clay. And what he’d envisioned was that the clay and the uniforms would essentially go to seed. The clay would kind of dissipate and start to decompose, so too the uniforms would kind of decompose over time. So you would go from having an actual memorial, something you could visit, to essentially nothing.
And that’s what’s so interesting about the title of the work. In a way, it really is this kind of non-war memorial. There would be nothing left, nothing to visit, nothing to memorialize. I think that’s a kind of apt way of thinking about the uselessness of all of this death from his perspective.