Born Nina Koch, the future sculptor was encouraged to pursue a career in the arts by her parents; her father was a professor of Greek, Latin, and history. She had an early and brief career on the stage, acting for four years with the Municipal Theater in Bochum, Germany. She then decided to pursue sculpture and began her art training at the Staedel Museum School in Frankfurt-am-Main. She was in Paris from 1932 to 1941 where she studied at the Academy Colarossi and where, in 1934, she married George Winkel. They moved to New York in 1942 and she worked at the Sculpture Center, then the Clay Club, where she had her first one-artist show in 1944. She became an American citizen in the following year. She has specialized in small sculptures of the figure, including a number of religious pieces, and animal sculptures, in a variety of mediums.
Among her major works are the war memorial at Seward Park High School, New York City (1948); the Lassiter Memorial in Charlotte, North Carolina (1956); a wall panel for the library in Keene Valley, New York; another panel for the offices of the Hanes Corporation in the Penny Building, New York City; and a group sculpture of children for the Albert Schweitzer School in Wiesbaden, Germany (1964). Her medal Children, Hope of the World was the 77th Issue of the Society of Medalists in 1968.
Winkel has served as President and President Emeritus of the Sculpture Center and is a fellow of the National Sculpture Society and a member of the Sculptors Guild. Soon after her arrival in this country she began exhibiting at the National Academy where she won the 1945 Watrous Gold Medal for Burden; the 1964 Morse Medal for Apocalyptic Rider; the 1976 Certificate of Honor for Luna; the 1978 Watrous Medal for Jesus on the Lake; the 1979 Artists' Fund Prize for Winter's Approach; the 1982 NAD Gold Medal for Mystic Birch; and the 1983 Watrous Medal for The Penitent.
