The Hoerengracht

Attracting worldwide publicity at its press launch in Autumn 2008, this is an uncompromising and thought-provoking installation, created by one of the most influential artists of the later twentieth century. The Hoerengracht (1983-1988) is an installation artwork by Ed Kienholz (d. 1994) and his wife Nancy Reddin Kienholz. This tableau - a surprising sight in the National Gallery - is a walk-through evocation of The Hoerengracht, Amsterdam's red-light district, with glowing windows and claustrophobic streets. With its statements on morality, vanitas and its composition of secret spaces and receding views, The Hoerengracht resonates powerfully with paintings by Dutch masters of the seventeenth century, widely represented in the National Gallery Collection. The catalogue explains this visual and thematic relationship to Old Master art as well as introducing the reader to the Kienholz, an artistic team who have influenced contemporary art world figures such as Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy and Damien Hirst. The exhibition Kienholz: The Hoerengracht opens at the National Gallery, London, from November 2009.