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“Greenberg, who had hailed de Kooning’s first solo exhibition five years earlier, claimed his painting belonged to ‘the most advanced in our time’, precisely because of the painter’s ambition to invest modern, abstract art with the ‘power of sculptural contour’ derived from the human form. Thankfully, the acclaimed critic, Clement Greenberg, best known for championing abstract expressionism, also praised de Kooning’s figurative turn. However, de Kooning’s struggles to paint the works were met with an equally tortuous critical reception, with many condemning the canvases as being violent and degrading towards women. Indeed, “de Kooning only resumed work on the painting now known as Woman I after art historian Meyer Schapiro, in what critic Peter Schjeldahl has aptly termed ‘history’s luckiest studio visit’, offered words of encouragement about the abandoned canvas during a visit with the artist at his Fourth Avenue studio.” This painting, and others in its series, went on show in New York later that year. “Perhaps it is no wonder that the painter, dissatisfied with his progress, chose to abandon Woman I early in 1952.” Zilczer writes. In the final painting, however, de Kooning removed the collaged mouth and repainted the face with fang-like teeth and large, globelike eyes that echo the rotund shape of the woman’s enormous, pillow-like breasts.” “Fascinated by the image of alluring lips in cigarette advertisements, he incorporated collages of that ‘T-zone’ in a small painting of Woman, 1950, and in several of the early states of Woman I. “Elaine de Kooning estimated that some two hundred images preceded what is now the final state of Woman I.”ĭe Kooning, like Francis Bacon, also drew from found photography, often torn from magazines. “Working, as was his habit, with numerous drawings and collage fragments, de Kooning filled his canvas with image upon image, only to scrape away the figure and repeatedly begin painting anew,” Zilczer writes. The painter added dynamism to these new pictures, with the abstract “almost explosive force through the exuberance of his markings,” as well as laborious, collage-like treatments, as our book records.
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Artwork by Willem de Kooning © 2014 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society, (ARS), New York
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Willem de Kooning in his Fourth Avenue studio with drawings related to Woman I in the background, 1950 photograph by Rudy Burckhardt. Indeed, “his paintings resulted from a daring elision of abstract and figurative imagery that few of his contemporaries could fathom,” Zilczer writes. Though he had arrived in New York as a 22-year-old stowaway in 1926, by 1951, as author Judith Zilczer writes in her book, A Way of Living: the Art of de Kooning, “he had already created an impressive array of controversial and compelling masterworks that have become touchstones for any account of twentieth-century art.”Īnd yet de Kooning’s place among the vanguard of New York’s abstract painters wasn’t something the artist accepted without question. On the anniversary of the Dutch abstract expressionist's birth, we tell the tale behind one of his infamous worksīy the middle of the 20th century, Willem de Kooning had pretty much made it. Today, the tradition continues with Christmas markets selling old school caganers alongside new versions that feature famous faces such as footballers, rock stars, and Barack Obama.Woman I, (1950–2), oil, enamel and charcoal on canvas, 192.7 x 147.3 cm (75 x 58 in), The Museum of Modern Art, New York Artwork by Willem de Kooning © 2014 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society, (ARS), New York The strange story behind Willem de Kooning’s Woman I And yes, he is trying to take a "number two." The exact legend of how this tradition got started is unknown, but legend has it that farmers would be punished with a poor crop harvest and bad fortune if they didn't include a caganer within their nativity scene. The male figurine's name is translated to the defecator, which makes sense since the porcelain doll is squatting with his pants down. Instead of Elf on a Shelf, el Caganer is the most important holiday figurine, even if it is a little obscene. The figures symbolize fertilization, hope and prosperity for the coming year. Catalonians hide caganers in Christmas Nativity scenes and invite friends to find them. Ceramic figurines of El Quijote called 'caganers' The figurines of people defecating are a strong Christmas tradition in Catalonia, dating back to the 18th century.