The Portable War Memorial 1968,

1972

This screenprint by Edward Kienholz depicts the artist's eponymous, life-size tableau from 1968, created at the height of the Vietnam War. One of the first artists to create environments, as opposed to discrete sculptures, Kienholz often satirized military violence and American consumerism. The original tableau, a parody of a more conventional memorial, was constructed out of materials scavenged from the street and figures cast from life. It reads from left to right, establishing a timeline of American culture. According to Kienholz, the left side, which contains, among other things, a reproduction of the Iwo Jima Memorial, represents "propaganda devices." The center stands for "business as usual," specifically the business of marketing, shopping, suburbia, and domesticity. At the far right we see what Kienholz calls a tombstone, to which a very small man has been crucified, symbolizing of the threat of nuclear annihilation.