The Estate of Ken Kiff

Biography
Ken Kiff was born in Dagenham, Essex, 1935 and died in London, 2001.  For over thirty years he taught at Chelsea School of Art and The Royal College of Art, influencing and nurturing generations of successful artists. He was elected Royal Academician in 1991 and was the first Associate Artist at The National Gallery, London from 1991-93. His works can be found in major public collections including Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, MoMA, Tate Britain, The British Museum and The British Council, among others. Recent posthumous exhibitions have included The Sequence,  Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK, November 2018–April 2019; Man Painting, Turps Gallery London, June–July 2019; and Man, Bird Tree, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, UK November 2022 – February 2023.
Exhibitions
Press
Bibliography

KEN KIFF 

B. 1935, Dagenham, Essex, UK 

Died in 2001 in England, UK 

 

EDUCATION 

1960-61       Teacher training at Hornsey School of Art, London, UK 

 

1995-61        Studied at Hornsey School of Art, London, UK 

 

COLLECTIONS 

Ackland Museum, Chapel, Hill, NC 

Arts Council of Great Britain, London, UK 

The Archive of The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, IE  

The British Museum, London, UK 

The British Council, London, UK 

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH  

Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg, SE  

The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY  

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 

Museum of Modern Art, New Orleans, LA  

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY  

Tate Britain, London, UK 

Würth Museum, Künzelsau, DE  

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

2022       Ken Kiff: Man, Bird and Tree, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, UK 

 

2019        Ken Kiff: Man Painting, Turps Gallery, London, UK 

 

2018       Ken Kiff: The Sequence, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK

                 Ken Kiff, Prints, Drawings, Paintings, Young Gallery, Salisbury, UK 

 

2017       Ken Kiff Unfolding, Frieze Masters, Deutsche Bank VIP Lounge, 

                         London, UK 

 

2015      Ken Kiff: The Hill of Dreams, Marlborough Fine Art, London, UK 

 

2008     Ken Kiff Paintings and Works on Paper, Marlborough Fine Art, 

                           London, UK 

 

2001      Retrospective Paintings, Works on Paper, Prints, Marlborough

                            Fine Art, London, UK 

 

1996       Marlborough Fine Art & Graphics, London, UK 

 

1993       Ken Kiff, National Gallery, London, UK 

 

1991        Ken Kiff, Recent Work, Marlborough Fine Art, London, UK 

 

1988       Fischer Fine Art, London, UK 

 

1986       Ken Kiff Paintings * 1965-85, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK,

                            Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, UK 

 

1982       Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY 

 

1981        Talbot Rice Art Centre, Edinburg, UK 

 

1980       Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London, UK 

 

1979        Gardner Centre Gallery, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK 

  

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 

2023        Little People of the Otherworld: Ken Kiff in Dialogue, albertz

                               benda, New York, NY (forthcoming)

                    The Moth and the Thunderclap, Modern Art, London, UK 

 

2022         The Tyranny of Ambition, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, IE 

 

2021          Fully Awake, Holden Gallery, Manchester School of Art,

                               Manchester, UK 

 

2020          Chroma, Marlborough Graphics, London, UK 

                                Me Myself and I, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London, UK 

 

2018           Year 1, Frestonian Gallery, London, UK 

                      Lovers and Other Spectres, The Kingsgate Workshops, London, UK

 

2001            Tell me a Picture, selected by Quentin Blake, The National

                               Gallery, London, UK 

 

1994             Here and Now, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK 

 

1990             Nine Contemporary Painters, A Personal Choice, selected by

                                Andrew Lambirth, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery,

                                Bristol, UK 

 

1989             Tree of Life, Southbank Centre, London, Corner House Gallery,  

                                Manchester, UK 

 

1987             Current Affairs, British Painting and Sculpture in the 80s,

                                Museum of Modern Art, Oxford and British Council touring,

                                Oxford, UK 

 

1984              The British Art Show, Ikon Gallery and City Gallery Museum,

                                 Birmingham, UK 

 

1983              Alive to it All, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK 

 

1982              Issues: New Allegory 1, curated by Elisabeth Sussman,

                                  Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA 

 

1981               New Works on Paper 1, curated by John Elderfield, Museum of

                                  Modern Art, New York, NY 

 

1979              Narrative Painting, selected by Timothy Hyman, Arnolfini

                                  Gallery, Bristol, UK 

 

1973              Magic and Strong Medicine selected by Norbert Lynton,

                                   Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK 

 

1970              Critic's Choice, selected by Norbert Lynton, Arthur Tooth &

                                   Sons, London, UK 

 

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES 

1992-4      Associate Artist at the National Gallery, London, United Kingdom  

 

1991           Elected Royal Academician, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK