(Born in 1946 in Paris, FR; Died in 2021 in New York, US. Lived and worked in Paris and New York.)
SELECTED PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS AND EXHIBITIONS
2025 Musée de la Cour d’Or, Metz Métropole, Metz, FR. Two works were inaugurated into the permanent collection in September 2025.
2025 Lines, Curator: Carlos Sicilia, Liaigre, New York, NY, US
2024 Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR. Two additional monumental sculptures entered the collection: Zahin (1980) and King (1987). The museum already held multiple terracotta works from the Ivresse ensemble (acquired 2009).
2024 MAMC+ (Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole), Saint-Étienne, FR (ongoing). Kirili’s work is currently on view in the reopened collection exhibition “BRAND NEW!”, which highlights recent acquisitions and large-scale sculptures.
2024 FAB Paris, RX&SLAG, Grand Palais, Paris, FR
2024 Défi de l’apesanteur, RX&SLAG, Paris, FR
2024 Totem, SLAG&RX, New York, USA.2023 – Selected Works, SLAG&RX, New York, NY, US
2023 Selected works, SLAG&RX, New York, NY, US
2022 Singing in Unison – Part 3, Below Grand Gallery, New York, NY, US
2022 Singing in Unison – Part 7, Below Grand Gallery, New York, NY, US
2022 Couvent des Franciscaines, Deauville, FR
2022 SLAG Gallery, New York, Ny, US
2019 Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, NY, US
2016 Hionas Gallery, New York, NY, US
2014 ArtHelix Gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY, US
2014 Caen Fine Arts Museum, Caen, FR
2014 Cohue Museum, Vannes, FR
2014 Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2013 Pièce Unique Gallery, Paris, FR
2012 Parvis Hôtel de Ville, Paris, FR
2012 Hartung Bergman Foundation, Antibes, FR
2012 Picasso Museum, Antibes, FR
2012 Akira Ikeda Gallery, New York, US / Berlin, DE
2011 Grenoble Museum, Grenoble, FR
2011 Montmajour Abbey, Arles, FR
2011 Caen Fine Arts Museum, Caen, FR
2010 Jean-Luc & Takako Richard Gallery, Paris, FR
2009 St Jean d’Orbestier Abbey, Château d’Olonne, FR
2007 Orangerie Museum, Paris, FR
2007 Galerie Salander O’Reilly, New York, NY, US
2006 Orsay Museum, Paris, FR
2005 Garden of the Palais Royal, Paris, FR
2004 New York Studio School, New York, NY, US
2003 Valencian Institute of Modern Art - IVAM, Valencia, ES
2002 Valenciennes Fine Arts Museum, Valenciennes, FR
2000 Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY, US
1999 Grenoble Fine Arts Museum, Grenoble, FR
1999 San Francisco Fine Arts Museum, Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco, CA, US
1998 Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY, US
1997 Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, US
1996 Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris, FR
1994 The Talbot Rice Art Gallery, Edimburg, GB
1992 Saint-Étienne Museum of Modern Art, Saint-Étienne, FR
1991 Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, US
1991 Calais Fine Arts Museum, Calais, FR
1991 Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris, FR
1990 Holly Solomo Gallery, New York, NY, US
1989 Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris, FR
1987 Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, Ny, US
1985 Rodin Museum, Paris, FR
1985 Adrien Maeght Gallery, Paris, FR
1984 Adrien Maeght Gallery, Paris, FR
1984 Saint Pierre Museum, Lyon, FR
1984 Besançon Fine Arts Museum, Besançon, FR
1983 Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, DE
1982 Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY, US
1982 Frankfurter Kunstverein, Francfort, DE
1981 Diane Brown Gallery, Washington, DC, US
1981 Dallas Fine Arts Museum, Dallas, TX, US
1980 Beyeler, Bâle, CH
1978 Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY, US
1978 HausLange Museum, Krefeld, DE
1976 Sonnabend Gallery, Paris, FR
1976 Clocktower Institute for Art and Urban Ressources, New York PS1, New York, US
1972 Sonnabend Gallery, Paris, FR
SELECTED FORMER GALLERIES
Hionas Gallery on the Lower East Side in New York City (2016)
Galerie Pièce Unique, Paris (2013)
Galerie Akira Ikeda, New York, Berlin, Tokyo (2012, 2014)
Marlborough Gallery, New York (1998-2000)
Galerie Templon, Paris (1989-1996)
Holly Solomon Gallery, New York (1987, 1990)
Galerie Adrien Maeght, Paris (1984, 1985)
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (1980)
Sonnabend Gallery Paris, Geneva, New York (1972-1982)
AWARDS
2020 Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, FR
2019 A Lifetime of Achievement, Vision Festival, US
2019 Art Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters, US
2000 Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, FR
1997 Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, FR
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
United States
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY
The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Vogel Collection, RISD Museum of Art, Providence, RI
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
Dallas Museum of Art / Nasher Foundation, Dallas, TX
France
Centre Georges Pompidou / Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, FR
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain (FNAC), Paris, FR
FRAC Franche-Comté, Besançon, FR
FRAC Basse-Normandie, Caen, FR
FRAC Bretagne, Châteaugiron, FR
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Angers, FR
Musée Picasso, Antibes, FR
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Caen, FR
Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, FR
Musée d’Art Contemporain Lyon, Lyon, FR
Musée d’Art Moderne Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne, FR
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes, Valenciennes, FR
Germany
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, DE
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, DE
Spain
Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, ES
PUBLICATIONS
Monographs
2012 Kirili à Grenoble, Dubbeld Sabrina, editions Ereme.
2002 Alain Kirili, Morgan Robert C., Paris, editions Flammarion.
Exhibition catalogues
2019 Alain Kirili: Who’s Afraid of Verticality?, Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, USA.
2016 Alain Kirili «In the Round», Hionas Gallery, New York, USA.
2014 Suite Musicale, La Cohue Museum of Fine Arts in Vannes, France.
2014 Alain Kirili : Lévitations, Kristell Loquet, editions Marcel Le Poney.
2014 Alain Kirili: Drawing in Space, ArtHelix Gallery, Brooklyn, USA.
2014 Embodiment and Language: Alain Kirili’s Calligraphy in the Round, David Cohen.
2014 Parcours croisés, Caen Fine Arts Museum, France.
2014 Duo Absolu, Barry Schwabsky.
2014 Surgissement à deux, Yannick Haenel, Translated by Philip Barnard.
2014 Parcours croisés, Patrick Ramade.
2014 Alain Kirili Sculptures 1976-2014, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Berlin, Germany and Tokyo, Japan.
2013 Alain Kirili, Pièce Unique Gallery, Paris, France.
2013 One place, one work: Kirili at Pièce Unique, Thierry Dufrêne.
2012 Rythmes d’automne, Parvis de l’Hôtel de Ville de Paris, France.
2012 Rythmes d’automne à Paris, Thierry Dufrêne, editions Akira Ikeda Gallery.
2011 Alain Kirili, Geste de Résistance, Caen Museum, France.
2011 The Eye of Hitler, Robert Paxton.
2007 Kirili et les Nymphéas, Orangerie Museum, Paris, France.
2007 Alain Kirili & Gaston Lachaise, Salander O’Reilly Gallery, New York, USA.
2007 Gaston Lachaise, a french American, Alain Kirili.
2007 Flesh In Ecstasy, Paula Rand Hornbostel.
2006 Kirili - Steichen, Correspondances, Orsay Museum, Paris.
2006 A Game for Two or More Players : Kirili, Steichen, Mallarmé, Raphael Rubinstein.
2004 Alain Kirili, New York Studio School, USA.
2004 In the name of creation, Paul Audi.
2004 Sarah Lewis, Bambara Raphsodies.
2003 David Smith’s Drawings, ENSBA, Paris, France.
2003 David Smith : the probity of his art, Robert Storr.
2002 Kirili dialogue avec Carpeaux, Valenciennes Museum, France.
1999 Alain Kirili, Grenoble Museum, France.
1999 The Commandments Mystical fonts by Alain Kirili, Edmund White.
1999 Alain Kirili : a dialog with Rodin, Fine arts Museum of San Francisco, USA.
1999 Alain Kirili : A Dialog with Rodin, Steven A. Nash.
1994 Open Form Sculpture, Sainsbury Center for Visiual Arts, Norwich, Royaume-Uni.
1994 Open Form Sculpture, Jeffett William.
1993 Alain Kirili et Roy Haynes, Regional School of Fine Arts, Nantes, France.
1992 Alain Kirili, Museum of Modern Art, Saint-Étienne, France.
1992 Constructed Morality, Philippe Dagen.
1992 Alain Kirili at Nuits-Saint-Georges, Martine Dancer.
1992 Letter to my Translator, Barry Schwabsky.
1992 Alain Kirili, Le Baiser, Carrée Gallery, Villa Arson, Nice, France.
1991 Kirili, Commandement XI, Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris, France.
1991 Commandement, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
1990 Alain Kirili et l’abstraction du modelé, Calais Fine Arts Museum, Calais, France.
1989 Alain Kirili, Daniel Templon Gallery, Paris, France.
1989 Alain Kirili,“Lighting the Fuse” after the Appropriation.
1987 Alain Kirili, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, USA.
1985 Alain Kirili, Rodin Museum, Paris, France.
1985 Alain Kirili au Musée Rodin, Kirk Varnedoe.
1985 Alain Kirili, Adrien Maegth Gallery, Paris, France.
1985 Alain Kirili, Terres cuites 1972-1984, Contemporary Art Centre, Châteauroux, France.
1984 Alain Kirili, Adrien Maegth Gallery, Paris, France.
1982 Alain Kirili, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany.
1982 Robert Rosenblum, Essay.
1981 A.Kirili : Recent Sculpture, Art Museum, Dallas, USA.
1974 Alain Kirili : peintures, dessins, sculptures, gravures, Sonnabend Gallery, Paris, France.
1972 Alain Kirili, From One Line, Sonnabend Gallery, Paris, France.
1972 The Paradox of the Painter, Marcel Pleynet.