Jan willem de kooning biography
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Willem de Kooning - The Man of Many Contradictions
Feb 24, 2017
Willem de Kooning is easy to love and easy to hate. De Kooning is an epic figure in the story of 20th Century abstract art, partly because of his work and partly because of his personality. Born in 1904 and died in 1997, his life book-ended the century. Though not an American citizen for most of his life, he nevertheless epitomized the American myth. He was dashing and rugged, yet sensitive. He worked hard and played hard. He was a brilliant and curious intellectual, and also a prolific lover. He attracted people to himself then rewarded them generously with his honesty and openness. He was an influencer who allowed others to influence him. In the 70 years he painted professionally, De Kooning created one of the most diverse and viscerally thrilling bodies of work of his generation. But De Kooning haters allege he was a cheater, a scoundrel and a drunk. And then there is the fact that he painted what has
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Willem de Kooning
Exhibitions
Select Exhibitions
2017
Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection, WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Abstract Expressionism, ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS MAYFAIR | LONDON | UK
2015
Willem de Kooning: From the John and Kimiko Powers Collection ARTIZON MUSEUM CHUO-KU | TOKYO | JAPAN
2013
Willem de Kooning: Ten Paintings 1983-1985
GAGOSIAN galleri, NEW YORK (980 MADISON AVENUE) UPPER EAST SIDE | NEW YORK | USA
2010
Modern Times: responding to chaos – Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK
Modern in America: Works on Paper, 1900–1950s – The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2009
MOCA´s First Thirty Years – MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Originalgrafiken, Zeichnungen und Skulpturen – Galerie Biedermann, Munich, Germany
American Abstractions Part 2: Paintings 1950’s – Present – Katharina rik Perlow galleri, New York, NY
The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works – The National Galle
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Summary of Willem de Kooning
One of the most prominent and celebrated of the Abstract Expressionist painters, Willem de Kooning's pictures typify the vigorous, gestural style of the movement. Perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, he developed a radically abstract style of painting that fused Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism. While many of his colleagues moved from figuration to abstraction, de Kooning always painted figures, most notably women, and abstractions concurrently, making no distinction between the art historical categories. De Kooning's real subject, he insisted, was space and the figure-ground relation.
De Kooning fused abstraction, figuration, and landscapes in various ways throughout the many long decades of his career, and his unceasing journey to find new forms and subjects made his overall output more eclectic than most of his colleagues. His engagement with popular culture was also unique and informed a host of post-war artists from the Neo-Dadaism o