MONA KUHN
Acclaimed for her contemporary depictions, Kuhn is considered a leading artist in the world of figurative discourse. Throughout a career spanning more than twenty years, the underlying theme of her work is her reflection on humanity’s longing for spiritual connection and solidarity. As she solidified her photographic style, Kuhn created a notable approach to the nude by developing friendships with her subjects, and employing a range of playful visual strategies that use natural light and minimalist settings to evoke a sublime sense of comfort between the human figure and its environment. Her work is natural, restful, and a reinterpretation of the nude in the canon of contemporary art.
For the past two decades, the Los-Angeles based artist's works have been shown steadily, revealing an astonishing consistency in technique, of subject and of purpose. In 2001, Kuhn’s photographs were first seen by an influential audience during the exhibition at Charles Cowles Gallery in Chelsea, New York. Kuhn’s distinct aesthetic has propelled her as one of the most collectible contemporary art photographers—her work is in private and public collections worldwide and she is represented by galleries across the United States, Europe and Asia.
Kuhn was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1969, of German descent. In 1989, Kuhn moved to the US and earned her BA from The Ohio State University, before furthering her studies at the San Francisco Art Institute. She is currently an independent scholar at The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Occasionally, Mona teaches at UCLA and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Mona Kuhn’s first monograph, Photographs, was debuted by Steidl in 2004; followed by Evidence (2007), Native (2010), Bordeaux Series (2011), Private (2014), and She Disappeared into Complete Silence (2018/19). In addition, Stanley/Barker Editions published Kuhn's Bushes and Succulents (2018) with a debut at Musee Jeu de Paume in Paris in 2019. Thames & Hudson published a career retrospective titled Works. Kuhn's most recent publication Kings Road with Steidl accompanies a multi-dimensional museum exhibition in Germany and the US.
Mona Kuhn’s work is in private and public collections worldwide, including The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Hammer Museum, the Perez Art Museum in Miami, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Kiyosato Museum in Japan. Kuhn's work has been exhibited at The Louvre Museum and Le Bal in Paris, The Whitechapel Gallery and Royal Academy of Arts in London, Musée de l’Elysée in Switzerland, Leopold Museum in Vienna Austria, The Polygon Gallery in Vancouver Canada, Australian Centre for Photography and Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan.
Mona Kuhn currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
Please contact the gallery for artwork pricing and current inventory of available limited edition works
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Mona Kuhn: Between Modernism and Surrealism, Houk Gallery, New York, NY
2023
Mona Kuhn: Kings Road, Galerie XII, Paris, France
Mona Kuhn: Kings Road, Kunsthaus-Göttingen, Germany
Mona Kuhn: Kings Road, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta
2022
Mona Kuhn: 835 Kings Road, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, Santa Barbara
2021
Mona Kuhn: Selected Works, Galerie XII, Paris
Mona Kuhn: Works, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York
Mona Kuhn: Works, Flowers Gallery, London
Mona Kuhn: Works, Galerie XII, Los Angeles + Paris + Shanghai
Mona Kuhn: 835 Kings Road, Art, Design and Architecture Museum, Santa Barbara
2020
Still Light, Jardin du Bra'haus, Montée du Château, Clervaux, Luxembourg
Mona Kuhn: Early Depictions, Flowers Gallery, London
Mona Kuhn: Intimate, UP Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2019
Bushes and Succulents, Euqinom Gallery, San Francisco
Mona Kuhn: She Disappeared, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta
Mona Kuhn: Experimental, Fruit Factory, Durham Triangle, North Carolina
2018
Mona Kuhn: New Works, Part II, Galerie Catherine Hug, Paris, France
2017
Mona Kuhn: The First Chapter, Euqinom Projects, San Francisco, California
2016
Mona Kuhn: New Works, Galerie Catherine Hug, Paris, France
Acido Dorado, Galeria Pilar Serra, Madrid, Spain
Mona Kuhn: New Works, Euqinom Gallery, San Francisco, California
2015
Private, Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Private, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna, Austria
2014
Acido Dorado, Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York
Acido Dorado, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
Private, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
2012
Bordeaux Series, Galerie Particuliere, Paris, France
Native, Galeria Pilar Serra, Madrid, Spain
Bordeaux Series, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Bordeaux, Flowers Gallery, New York
Native, Brancolini Grimaldi, Florence, Italy
2011
Bordeaux, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
2010
Native, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
Native, Flowers Gallery, New York
2009
Native, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Native, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
2008
Evidence, Jarach Gallery, Venice, Italy
2007
Evidence, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California
Evidence, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Mona Kuhn, Estiarte Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Evidence, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Less Than Innocent, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2005
Mona Kuhn – Recent Color Work, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
Mona Kuhn-Close, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Unbounded Youth, Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2004
Mona Kuhn-Color, Camerawork, Berlin, Germany
New Work, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Corporeal Space, Galerie F5.6, Munique, Germany
Mona Kuhn - Color Photographs, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California
Still Memory, PhotoEye Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Body Language, Camerawork AG, Hamburg, Germany
2003
Somata, Schumann Galerie, Munique, Germany
2002
Mona Kuhn-recent work, Momus Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2001
Mona Kuhn-recent work, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California
Bare, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
Mona Kuhn, Bassetti Fine Art Photo Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2000
Bei Nahe, Bodo Niemann Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Mona Kuhn, G.Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1999
Mona Kuhn-recent work, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California
1998
Mona Kuhn Nus, Elkis Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
1997
Mona Kuhn, Tappert Galerie, Berlin, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
Beyond Appearances, Kunstraum, Brooklyn, New York
Keeper of the Hearth, Houston Center for Photography, Texas
Women On Women, Galerie XII, Los Angeles
2020
Unseen: 35 Years of Collecting Photographs, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Isolation: Solitary & Suspended, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
Eros and Psyche in Photography, Chaussee 36 Berlin, Germany
14th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards Exhibition, Mediterranean House of Photography, Barcelona
A Handful of Dust, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
Picturing Roland Barthes, Meadows Museum of Art, Louisiana
2019
Her Ground: Women Photographing Landscape, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
From Cosmic to the Domestic, The Polygon, Vancouver, Canada
Contemporary II, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
2018
Anna Atkins Refracted: Contemporary Works, New York Public Library, New York
A Handful of Dust, Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside
Haute Photographie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Staged, San Francisco PhotoFairs, California
This is Not a Selfie, Williamson Gallery, Pasadena, California
2017
A Handful of Dust, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Nudes, Gallery Grob, Geneve, Switzerland
Spring Show, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
JAM! A Billboard Exhibition with Mona Kuhn, Alex Prager and Jennifer Steinkamp
Private at Art Rotterdam, The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Poems at Art Geneve, Gallery Grob, Geneve, Switzerland
2016
Boundless, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
Out of Obscurity, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
Il Sogno Americano, Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome, Italy
Love Potion, Maloney Fine Art, Los Angeles
A Handful of Dust, curated by David Campani, Le Bal, Paris France
2015
The New Portrait, Stieglitz Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2014
Living Rooms from the collection of Robert Wilson, Louvre Museum, France
Decisive Moments, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii
2013
Image Search, Perez Art Museum Miami
Staking Claim, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego
Under My Skin: Contemporary Nudes, Flowers Gallery, New York
Mona Kuhn and Carla van de Puttelaar, Kahmann Gallery, Amsterdam
2012
Nudes, Flowers Gallery, New York
2011
Magie des Objekts, Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, London, UK
Traummänner, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
100 Portraits, Australian Center for Photography, Sydney
2010
State of Mind, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California
2009
On the way to Robert Frank, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Au Feminin, Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, France
Anonymity, Sol Mednick Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2008
Modern Photographs, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York
People and Places, Southwest Center for Contemporary Art, North Carolina
2007
Featured Works of Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina
The Machine, the Body and the City, Miami Museum of Art, Florida
2006
The Body Familiar, Current Perspectives of the Nude, Griffin Museum, Boston, Massachusetts
2005
Portrait & Figure Study in Contemporary Photography, Westport Arts Center, Connecticut
Face Cachée, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France
The Children’s Hour, Museum of New Art, Michigan
2004
Il nudo nell’arte, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
2003
Traditions on Figure, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2002
March Group Exhibition, G.Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Collective, Vickie Bassetti Fine Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
2001
Love and Trust, Momus Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
Best of 2001 curated by Jack Spencer, Cumberland Gallery, Tennessee
PhotoMetro, SFAC Gallery, San Francisco, California
2000
German Artists, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California
Among Us, Paba Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Collective, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, Washington
The Body in Art, Francoise Gallery, Maryland, Virginia
Nudes from Past to Present, Etherton Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
Love, Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, California
1999
Collective Figurative Artists, Mauritz Gallery, Columbus, Ohio
Female Figures, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1998
Bare Skin, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio
Minimal Skin, Museum of Arts Downtown, Los Angeles, California
Collective Figurative, Museum Of Arts Downtown Los Angeles, California
1997
Contemporary Women Photographers, Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, California
COLLECTIONS
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California
The Hammer Museum Grunwald Center, Los Angeles, California
Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California
Griffin Museum, Winchester, Massachusetts
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
George Eastman House Museum, Rochester, New York
Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California
Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii
Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Musée de la Photographie de Charleroi, Belgium
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Japan
Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Japan
Majudia Collection, Montreal Canada
The Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation, New York
DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Massachusetts
di Rosa Foundation, San Francisco, California
Buhl Foundation, New York, New York
Paul Allen Collection, Seattle, Washington
Allen Thomas Jr. Collection, North Carolina
Schwarz Contemporary Art Collection, Berlin, Germany
Nicolaus von Oesterreich Collection, Frankfurt, Germany
Sir Elton John Collection, United Kingdom