The Illegal Operation (sculpture)

The Illegal Operation
The Illegal Operation
Artist	Edward Kienholz
Year	1962
Location	Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The Illegal Operation is the title of a grotesque 1962 assemblage sculpture by the American artist Edward Kienholz about unsafe abortion.^[1] The title refers to the euphemism illegal operation, which was then in widespread use to describe induced-abortion procedures.

Per the Los Angeles Times, "Abortion was a crime, and the wretched back-alley procedure that the artist witnessed his wife endure was fresh in his mind. (She survived.)"^[2] The artwork "depicts a makeshift operating room strewn with bedpans, rusty medical instruments, and dirty rags. There is no body in this scene, only a ripped sack of cement, its contents spilling onto a chair through an oozing gash."^[3] The artwork is amongst "a handful of Kienholz's most important assemblages" and is considered representative of the "dramatic shift in the long-contentious abortion debate" that took place in the 1960s.^[4]

References

^ "The Illegal Operation (LACMA Collections)". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 2022-09-03. Retrieved 2022-09-03.
^ Knight, Christopher (2022-07-03). "Commentary: As Roe vs. Wade is overturned, a grim 1962 sculpture gains tragic new relevance". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 2022-09-04. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
^ Schneider, Alexander (2022-05-10). "Your Body Is a Battleground: Artworks by Barbara Kruger and Edward Kienholz on Abortion". UNFRAMED at LACMA. Archived from the original on 2022-09-05. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
^ Knight, Christopher (2007-08-28). "ART REVIEW 'SoCal' dreaming; LACMA displays some great local works from the '60s and '70s, and a little wishful thinking". Los Angeles Times. pp. E1. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2022-09-09.

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[1] "The Illegal Operation (LACMA Collections)". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 2022-09-03. Retrieved 2022-09-03.

[2] Knight, Christopher (2022-07-03). "Commentary: As Roe vs. Wade is overturned, a grim 1962 sculpture gains tragic new relevance". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 2022-09-04. Retrieved 2022-09-04.

[3] Schneider, Alexander (2022-05-10). "Your Body Is a Battleground: Artworks by Barbara Kruger and Edward Kienholz on Abortion". UNFRAMED at LACMA. Archived from the original on 2022-09-05. Retrieved 2022-09-05.

[4] Knight, Christopher (2007-08-28). "ART REVIEW 'SoCal' dreaming; LACMA displays some great local works from the '60s and '70s, and a little wishful thinking". Los Angeles Times. pp. E1. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2022-09-09.

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