A masterful retrospective of Willem de Kooning’s artistic vision, spanning decades and mediums, reveals the intricate connections between abstraction and figuration in his works.
Alongside Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning has long been considered one of the twin pillars of abstract expressionism. However, his most cited works, the six canvases from his Woman series, are figurative, though they’re plenty expressionist. If it’s true abstraction you’re after, look no further than his ribbon paintings of the 1980s.
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch-American artist who played a pivotal role in the development of abstract expressionism.
Born in 1904 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, de Kooning moved to the United States in the 1920s and became a prominent figure in the New York City art scene.
His bold and expressive paintings, characterized by gestural brushstrokes and vibrant colors, challenged traditional techniques and paved the way for future generations of artists.
De Kooning's most famous works include 'Woman I' and 'Untitled XXV.'
Cool colors and an emphasis on negative space reflect sobriety and comfortable rural living in the Hamptons. But even here, if you look close enough, you’ll find figurative elements. ‘De Kooning constantly references his earlier works, which he kept next to his easel while he painted.’
A long-time alcoholic, it wasn’t his razor-sharp memory that repeated a graceful arc or contour on the tip of his brush. And it wasn’t muscle memory either. He used vellum, traced and cut against earlier paintings, importing lines and shapes to later works. This cyclical nature of his practice hovering between abstraction and figuration, which he never abandoned.
Curator Cecilia Alemani has created a dialog starting from the forties to the eighties in her show, “Willem de Kooning: Endless Painting” at Gagosian’s Chelsea gallery. The distaff half figures prominently in de Kooning’s practice, but it’s unclear who is pictured as they’re not portraits of people he knew.
Cecilia Alemani is an Italian artist, curator, and writer.
Born in 1977 in Milan, Italy, she is known for her multidisciplinary practice that combines 'art, architecture, and design' .
Alemani has curated numerous exhibitions worldwide, including the 2022 Venice Biennale.
She has also worked as a critic and editor for various publications.
Alemani's work often explores themes of space, identity, and community.
She holds a degree in art history from the University of Milan.
Alemani says they’re actually self-portraits of him, not Elaine (his wife), or other partners he had. She thinks that was a bigger influence – the image of women he saw in American consumerist society around billboards and magazines, especially in the post-war period.
Cecilia Alemani is an Italian curator and art historian.
Her theory revolves around the concept of 'common ground' in contemporary art, emphasizing the importance of shared experiences and collective narratives.
According to Alemani, art should be a catalyst for social change, fostering empathy and understanding among diverse communities.
This approach has been influential in shaping her curatorial practices, including the 2019 Venice Biennale, which focused on environmental issues and global cooperation.
De Kooning’s output is prolific, but his sculptures are few. While visiting an artist friend in Rome who had access to a foundry, de Kooning made some figures, two of which are in the show – ‘Clamdigger,’ a human-sized piece from 1972, and ‘Standing Figure,’ a large-scale bronze made over 15 years beginning in 1969.
Alemani says de Kooning enjoyed the materiality of sculpture. “When he painted, he would scrape here, scratch there, erase the composition every single day,” she notes about his tortured process. But with clay, you can go back and completely remodel it the following day. The exhibition traces de Kooning’s evolving visual language from the 1940s through the 1980s, including rarely seen sculptures and late paintings.
Alemani’s theory illustrates how Alemani’s theory brings together seemingly abstract works that reveal an elbow, a foot, a torso. De Kooning himself never abandoned his practice of referencing earlier works in later ones. His compositions are so sophisticated and powerful, the way he scraped the canvas each night and the layering, the technical aspects and the general composition and the mastery of color and light.
Throughout his long life, de Kooning went through many different periods and eras. Alemani believes that discussions about him get stuck on the Woman series, but his work is so much more than that. He enjoyed being in the studio, alone with his paintings.
The Gagosian show includes six paintings made in the 1980s, the latest from 1986. Before his death 11 years later, it was revealed that he suffered from Alzheimer’s, starting in the 1980s.
- observer.com | The Line Goes on Forever: De Kooning at Gagosian
