Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam, and arrived in the United States in 1926 via Hoboken, where he worked as a housepainter. After his move to New York the following year, the artist quickly became part of the city's vibrant art scene, forging friendships with artists and critics such as Arshile Gorky, Thomas Hess, Robert Motherwell, and Harold Rosenberg. In 1963, de Kooning took up full-time residence on the east end of Long Island, New York, a rural location that significantly impacted his painting from that point forward. As part of the New York School, de Kooning painted in a highly gestural and expressive manner using vigorous brushstrokes and vivid colour. He frequently used the female figure as inspiration, although painted it in a way that referenced primitve African art. In 1964 he received one of the greatest distinctions awarded in America, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1970 he began working in sculpture, creating works using bronze. His work is included in The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, New York. He died in Long Island in 1997.
Ocula News Sotheby's Kickstarts Big Auction Season for Joan Mitchell New York, 1 July 2020 The American painter sold well during her lifetime, but it's only in recent years that her prices have begun to catch up to those of her peers.
Related Press Gagosian to go off-piste with first pop-up show during Art Basel 4 June 2019, The Art Newspaper Last year, Gagosian introduced an innovative virtual online viewing room during Art Basel. This year, the gallery is creating another sales platform during the Swiss fair, this time taking a bricks and mortar approach with an off-site pop-up exhibition titled Continuing Abstraction (10—16 June).
Related Press Painting’s Patriarchal Spirit 20 October 2018, Hyperallergic LONDON—In 1981, the Royal Academy of Arts in London put on an exhibition of 20 th century painting that changed the art world. A New Spirit in Painting was 'a manifesto,' the accompanying catalogue said; it showcased a set of contemporary, mostly European painters, whose work possessed qualities—figurative, narrative, emotional...
Related Press Tumultuous Absorption 13 February 2017, Aesthetica Magazine Two or three muted, but skillfully executed, pieces of portraiture slowly lead the viewer to paintings with the merest hint of figures, before dissolving entirely into realms of line, colour, light and rhythm. This is just the first room of the major Abstract Expressionism show at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, fresh from a groundbreaking run at...
Related Press There hasn’t been a major group show of Abstract Expressionism in Europe since 1959 22 September 2016, Independent In 1959, New York's Museum of Modern Art sent an exhibition to eight European cities—concluding at London's Tate gallery—with the calmly self-assured title of The New American Painting. It featured 17 artists, most of whom were associated with Abstract Expressionism, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz...
