ART & ARTISTS

Wednesday, 30 November 2022

Willem de Kooning - part 1

If Jackson Pollock was the public face of the New York avant-garde, Willem de Kooning could be described as an artist’s artist, who was perceived by many of his peers as its leader. He was born in Rotterdam, where he grew up in an impoverished household and attended the Rotterdam Academy, training in fine and commercial arts. In 1926, the adventurous young artist stowed away on a ship bound for Argentina. While the ship was docked in Virginia, de Kooning slipped off, skirted immigration, and made his way to New Jersey—and so began the rest of his life.

In New Jersey, de Kooning found work as a house painter. Large brushes and fluid paints were the tools of this trade, ones that he would continue to utilise throughout his artistic career. His dual foundations in drawing and craftsmanship underlay all of his work, even his most abstract paintings.

De Kooning’s next stop was New York, where he forged his artistic career. The Jazz Age was in full swing when he moved to the city, and he quickly fell under the sway of the lyrical freedom of jazz and the abstract art made by other artists under its influence. New York also brought him into contact with the work of Henri Matisse and with contemporaries including John Graham and Arshile Gorky, with whom he developed a particularly close and inspiring friendship.

In 1929, the Great Depression brought the Jazz Age to a crashing end. As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) program, in the 1930s de Kooning was commissioned to design public murals; he worked under Fernand Léger, who proved to be an important influence. Though his studies for the murals were never realised, they were among his first abstractions, and the experience of working on this project spurred him to pursue art making full-time.

By the 1940s, de Kooning had gained prominence as an artist. Over the course of a career lasting nearly seven decades, he would work through a wide array of styles, eventually cementing himself as a crucial link from New York School painting to European modernism. Physical labor and countless revisions were constants in his work, which ranged from abstraction to figuration, often merging the two. “I never was interested in how to make a good painting…,” he once said. “I didn’t work on it with the idea of perfection, but to see how far one could go…” The female figure was an especially fertile subject for the artist. His paintings of women were among his most controversial works during his lifetime and continue to be debated today

Karen Kedmey, for Moma Exhibition 2017

This is part 1 of a 10-part series on the works of Willem de Kooning:

c1916 Untitled (Still LIfe)
oil on paperboard 34.3 x 38.4 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1921 Still Life (Bowl, Pitcher and Jug)
conté crayon and charcoal on paper 47 x 61.6 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1924 Portrait of Renée
oil, charcoal and conté crayon on canvas 56.5 x 46.3 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1924 Untitled (Flower Sellers)
conté crayon and watercolour on paper 34.9 x 26.3 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1925 The Kiss
graphite on paper 48.2 x 33 cm
Allan Stone Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1928 Untitled
oil on canvas 40.9 x 51.1 cm
Allan Stone Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1931 Untitled Abstraction
oil on canvas 60.6 x 83.8 cm
Location unknown
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1934 Untitled
oil on canvas laid down on panel 91.4 x 114.3 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1936 Study for the Williamsburg Project
gouache over pencil on paper 23.7 x 36.5 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1937 Untitled (Study for World's Fair Mural "Medicine")
graphite on paper 25.1 x 30 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1937 Untitled
opaque watercolour and pencil on paper 22.4 x 39.7 cm
Whitney Museum of Art, New York
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1937 Untitled
gouache and graphite on paper 14 x 19.1 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1938 Two Standing Men
oil and charcoal on canvas 154.9 x 114.3 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1938 Untitled
medium? 10.1 x 17.7 cm
Allan Stone Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1938-42 Study of a Woman's Head
pencil on paper 23.5 x 17.8 cm
Collection Chuck Close
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1938 Composition
oil and graphite on paper 13.7 x 22.2 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1938 Pink Landscape
oil on composition board 63.5 x 94.3 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1938 Reclining Nude (Portrait of Juliet Browner)
pencil on paper 26 x 32.4 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1938 Untitled (Harold Rosenberg)
pencil on paper 22.9 x 18.4 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1938 Untitled
Casein on paper mounted on cardboard 18 x 21.6 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1939 Elegy
oil and charcoal on composition board 102.2 x 121.6 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1939 Untitled (Abstract Composition)
graphite on paper 26.3 x 21.6 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1939 Untitled (Still Life)
double-sided oil and graphite on board 28.6 x 21 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1939-40 Abstract
oil on canvas 94.6 x 87 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1939 Seated Man
oil and charcoal on canvas 97.1 x 86.9 cm
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
© 2021 The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1940 Untitled
ink on paper 36.5 c 27.9 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1940-41 Portrait of Elaine
pencil on paper 31.1. x 30.1 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1941 Seated Man (Clown)
oil on Masonite 61.3 x 40.8 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1941-43c Seated Figure (Classic Male)
oil and charcoal on wood panel 138.1 x 91.4 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1941 Standing Man
oil on canvas 104.4 x 86.7 cm
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1942 Untitled
oil and charcoal on paper laid down on panel 54.6 x 49.5 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1942 Woman (Portrait of Elaine)
oil on board 53.3 x 35.5 cm
Allan Stone Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1942-44 The Wave
oil on fibreboard 121.9 x 121.9 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1942 Manikins
pencil on paper 34.4 x 43 cm
Whitney Museum of Art, New York
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1942 Untitled
pastel, gouache and charcoal on board 38.1 x 50.8 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1943 Three Women
oil on paper mounted on board 35.6 x 45.7 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1943-46 Queen of Hearts
oil and charcoal on fibreboard 117 x 70 cm
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
© 2021 The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1944 The Netherlands, from the United Nations Series
acrylic on fibreboard 31.9 x 27.4 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1945 Composition
oil on masonite 45.7 x 36.8 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1945 Abstraction
pastel, wax crayon and graphite on paper 21.6 x 27.9 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1945 Pink Angels
oil and charcoal on canvas 132 x 101.6 cm
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1945 Study for Pink Angels
pastel and graphite on vellum 35 x 41.3 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1946 Back Drop for "Labyrinth"
calcimine and charcoal on canvas 462.2 x 533 cm
Private Collection
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1946 Judgement Day
oil and charcoal on paper 56.2 x 72.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1946 Special Delivery
oil, enamel, and charcoal on paper mounted on paperboard 59.3 x 76.1 cm
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
© 2021 The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1947 Event in a Barn
oil, enamel and paper collage on board 62.9 x 83.8 cm
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

1947 Man
pencil on paper 35.5 x 16.1 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

c1947 Untitled (Two Figures)
oil, watercolour, charcoal and graphite 57.2 x 55.9 cm (sheet)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation -
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Monday, 28 November 2022

Raoul Dufy - part 18

Raoul Dufy (born June 3, 1877, Le Havre, France—died March 23, 1953, Forcalquier), French painter and designer noted for his brightly coloured and highly decorative scenes of luxury and pleasure.

In 1900 Dufy went to Paris to attend the École des Beaux-Arts. He painted in an Impressionist style in his early work, but by 1905 he had begun to employ the broad brushstrokes and bright colours typical of the Fauvre artists. A 1907 exhibition of Paul Cézanne’s work convinced Dufy to adopt temporarily more subdued colours and structured compositions. He worked in a Cubist-influenced style with the painters Georges Braque and Émile-Othon Friesz during 1908 and 1909, but he soon returned to his more carefree Fauvist approach.

Dufy was also a successful artist in other media. In 1910 he produced a series of woodcuts to illustrate poet Guillaume Apollinaire’s Bestiary. He began to create designs for a textile company in 1912, and in the 1920s he designed ceramics and tapestries.

In the early 1920s Dufy rededicated himself to painting and began to produce what are now his best-known works. His distinctive style is characterised by bright colours thinly spread over a white ground, with objects sketchily delineated by sensuously undulating lines. Dufy took as his subjects scenes of recreation and spectacle, including horse races, regattas, parades, and concerts. He spent much of his time on the French Riviera and produced series of paintings of Nice (1927), the Bois de Boulogne (1929), and Deauville (1930). He also worked as an illustrator and printmaker, creating whimsically drawn etchings and lithographs in the 1920s and ’30s. Though very popular, his lively, carefree, elegant paintings have been criticised as occasionally bordering on the superficial.

This part 18 of 18 on the works of Raoul Dufy:

n.d. Still Life with Flowers
watercolour on paper 62.2 x 47.4 cm

n.d. Still Life with Pears and Jug
gouache on paper 48 x 63 cm

n.d. Still Life with Provençal Landscape
gouache and watercolour over pencil on paper 50.8 x 66 cm

n.d. Still Life with Turkey
watercolour on paper 50 x 66.7 cm

n.d. Still Life with Violin
colour lithograph 47 x 53 cm

n.d. Study of Butterflies
watercolour and crayon on Ingres paper 48 x 62.5 cm

n.d. Study of Flowers
graphite and ink on paper 58 x 47 cm

n.d. Sweet Peas
gouache, watercolour and ink on paper 55 x 40 cm

n.d. The Avenue of Trees
oil on canvas 33 x 40.8 cm

n.d. The Blue Horse
gouache on paper 21.5 x 19 cm

n.d. The Children of Dr. Roudinesco
lithograph 45.5 x 56 cm

n.d. The Course at Auteuil
gouache, watercolour and pen and ink on paper 49.2 x 66 cm

n.d. The Course at Epsom
watercolour on paper 50 x 65 cm

n.d. The Diner
gouache on paper 50.2 x 64.4 cm

n.d. The Grand Concert
colour lithograph 52 x 44 cm

n.d. The House on the Corner of the Street
colour lithograph 55 x 39 cm

n.d. The Lion of Venice
gouache on paper 53 x 37 cm

n.d. The Paddock at Deauville
colour lithograph 61 x 100 cm

n.d. The Port of Cowes
colour lithograph (?) x 48.3 cm

n.d. The Port
watercolour on paper 49.8 x 64.7 cm

n.d. The Quintette
oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm

n.d. The Rabbit
watercolour and ink wash 48.3 x 60.3 cm
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

n.d. The Rose Garden
India ink on paper 90 x 90 cm

n.d. The Sea
colour lithograph 26.5 x 44 cm

n.d. The Three Graces
colour lithograph with stencil colouring in gouache
27 x 34 cm

n.d. The Thresher on the Farm
oil on canvas 46 x 55cm

n.d. The Thresher
watercolour on paper 44 x 55 cm

n.d. The Wedding
pen and blue ink and blue wash 24.5 x 32.5 cm

n.d. Theatre Costume
gouache, brush and ink and pencil on paper 31 x 20.1 cm

n.d. Trouville
oil on canvas 54.3 x 65 cm

n.d. Two Antillean Women
etching on laid paper 38.7 x 54 cm

n.d. Two Yachts
colour lithograph 35.5 x 51 cm

n.d. Two Young Women by the Sea
gouache on paper 50 x 41 cm

n.d. Vence
oil on canvas 65.1 x 81.3 cm

n.d. Village in the Trees
graphite on paper 43 x 58 cm

n.d. Violets
pochoir 21.5 x 15.6 cm

n.d. Visit of the English Squad in Le Havre
gouache and ink with traces of pencil on paper 50.8 x 66 cm

n.d. Visit of the English Squad in Le Havre
watercolour, gouache and pencil on pape 50.5 x 49.5 cm

n.d. Wildflowers
pen and India ink on paper 66 x 50.4 cm

n.d. Wine Growers in Provence
watercolour, gouache and brush and ink on paper
50.5 x 65 cm

Two Fish
watercolour and gouache on paper 51 x 65 cm

The Table Set in Syracuse
pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper 51 x 64.2 cm

The Paved Street and Banners
colour lithograph on wove paper

The House by the Sea
oil on panel 17.7 x 21.8 cm

n.d. Exotic Flowers
India ink and stencil watercolour on paper 41 x 26 cm

n.d. Fabric Project for Bianchini Férier
mixed media with gouache and India ink on paper
60 x 59 cm

n.d. Work Horses in a Field
oil on canvas 43.2 x 55.9 cm

n.d. Woman in Profile Bust
ink on paper 66 x 49.5 cm