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Kiki Smith (b. 1954, Nuremberg, Germany) is a leading contemporary artist with a career spanning more than three decades. Known primarily for her sculpture and works on paper, Smith is a wildly experimental and innovative printmaker. She is constantly pushing the boundaries in the field in all areas, including style, technique, and imagery. Her work addresses feminist, philosophical, social, sexual, and political aspects of human nature. Her early work, transgressive in nature, dealt with mortality and decay, while her more recent work explores the natural world, portraiture, fairy tales, and myths.
Though the artist has experimented with a wide range of non-traditional materials and mediums, Smith has relied on the versatility and practicality of prints throughout her entire career. Upon her father—the sculptor Tony Smith’s—death in 1980, Smith turned her attention to themes of mortality and decay. She developed an interest in prints because of their archival nature. Printmaking further allowed for a certain freedom in terms of re-use and image duplication.
Born to two American artists in Nuremberg, Germany, Smith was raised in New Jersey and attended Hartford Art School for a year and a half before moving to New York. She continues to live and work in New York City.
In 2017, Smith was selected to represent the United States at the 57th Venice Biennale. She has received many awards and distinctions such as the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center, the 2013 U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts, conferred by Hillary Clinton, the 2010 Nelson A. Rockefeller Award, Purchase College School of the Arts, the fiftieth Edward MacDowell Medal from the MacDowell Colony in 2009, the Athena Award for Excellence in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2005. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Tate Gallery.
Mary Ryan Gallery has held solo shows of Smith's prints in 2025 and 2017, and has included her work in numerous group shows. The gallery has placed the artist's works in numerous public collections, including the Albertina Museum, Austria; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia; Chazen Museum of Art, WI; The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, VA; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, NY; Hood Museum of Art, NH; Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, AL; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; National Gallery of Art, DC; Princeton University Art Museum, NJ; the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; and the Yale University Art Gallery, CT.
Though the artist has experimented with a wide range of non-traditional materials and mediums, Smith has relied on the versatility and practicality of prints throughout her entire career. Upon her father—the sculptor Tony Smith’s—death in 1980, Smith turned her attention to themes of mortality and decay. She developed an interest in prints because of their archival nature. Printmaking further allowed for a certain freedom in terms of re-use and image duplication.
Born to two American artists in Nuremberg, Germany, Smith was raised in New Jersey and attended Hartford Art School for a year and a half before moving to New York. She continues to live and work in New York City.
In 2017, Smith was selected to represent the United States at the 57th Venice Biennale. She has received many awards and distinctions such as the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center, the 2013 U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts, conferred by Hillary Clinton, the 2010 Nelson A. Rockefeller Award, Purchase College School of the Arts, the fiftieth Edward MacDowell Medal from the MacDowell Colony in 2009, the Athena Award for Excellence in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2005. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Tate Gallery.
Mary Ryan Gallery has held solo shows of Smith's prints in 2025 and 2017, and has included her work in numerous group shows. The gallery has placed the artist's works in numerous public collections, including the Albertina Museum, Austria; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia; Chazen Museum of Art, WI; The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, VA; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, NY; Hood Museum of Art, NH; Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, AL; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; National Gallery of Art, DC; Princeton University Art Museum, NJ; the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; and the Yale University Art Gallery, CT.