Willem de Kooning
Montauk III, 1969
oil on paper laid on canvas, 72-1/2″ x 70-1/2″
© 2011 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Willem de Kooning
<no title>, c. 1980
ink on paper, 8-1/2 x 11-1/16″, double-sided
© 2011 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Willem de Kooning: the figure: movement & gesture The Pace Gallery presents ‘The Figure: Movement and Gesture’, an exhibition focused on Willem de Kooning’s works from the late 60s and 70s, and the movement of transformation from figuration into abstraction. From April 29 through July 29, 2011.]]>
Source: Pace Gallery / theartwolf.com
“The figure is nothing unless you twist it around like a strange miracle.”
Willem de Kooning
The exhibition features nearly forty paintings, drawings, and sculptures from the late 60s through the late 70s, and it is the first exhibition at Pace Gallery devoted to de Kooning since the gallery announced exclusive representation of the estate of the artist (previously at the Gagosian Gallery) last fall.
Willem de Kooning (1904-1907) was one of the most important abstract expressionist artists. His fame is only surpassed by Jackson Pollock, to whom he is often compared, specially after that two works by Pollock and de Kooning rank at the top of the “most expensive paintings ever sold” list. But, unlike Pollock, Willem de Kooning was a long-lived artist whose career spans from the late 30s to the early 80s. However, the quality of his 1980s paintings have been debated, and some experts consider that de Kooning’s mental condition after years of alcoholism had rendered him unable to carry out the mastery indicated in his early works. For that reason, his paintings from the late 60s through the late 70s are often considered to be the last chapter of de Kooning’s artistic career.
Highlights of the exhibition include “Woman”, a 1969 oil on canvas, and “Amityville”, painted in 1971. Regarding to this painting, the press note includes a fragment from the catalogue of the exhibition, written by art historian Richard Shiff, who writes: “But what do we actually see? The bright colors […] create a sensory tension between the linear configurations and the chromatic contrasts. To concentrate on the one is to be distracted by the other, with the result that perceptual movement—now this, now that—is built into the painting.”
More information about the exhibition can be found at info2@thepacegallery.com.
Related content
Willem de Kooning: ‘Woman I’ – one of the 50 masterworks of painting
Willem de Kooning’s ‘Woman III’, sold for $137.5 million (2006)
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