Willem de Kooning
For Lisa
1984

Name: For Lisa
Brand: Willem de Kooning
Price: 10000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

For Lisa Color lithograph, 1984 Signed in pencil lower left (see photo) Numbered lower right corner Published to benefit the Los Angeles Children's Museum Printed by Brand X Editions New York, their chop stamp lower left corner Edition: 250 (145/250) Chop stamp lower left corner Lisa de Kooning copyright inkstamp verso Condition: Excellent unfaded colors Waviness around the sheet edges drom printing Framed in a finished corner 22K gilt frame with decoartive corners. OP3 Acrylic glazing Image size: 17 1/2 x 23 1/8 inches Frame size: 26 x 31 1/2 inches Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam on April 24, 1904. In 1916, he began to train as a commercial artist and at the same time he attended evening courses at the Rotterdam Academie voor Beldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen (Rotterdam Academy) until 1924. Afterwards he studied at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the van Schelling School of Design in Antwerp. In 1926, the young artist emigrated to the US, where he worked in New York as a commercial artist, window dresser, sign painter and carpenter. There, Willem de Kooning met other artists, including John Graham, Stuart Davis and Arshile Gorky and worked for the Federal Art Project, for which he created murals between 1935 and 1939. From 1935, he was able to devote himself entirely to painting. He shared a studio with Gorky and his early pictures were influenced by Gorky’s Surrealist style and by Picasso’s painting. However, de Kooning was also inspired by the Gestural branch of the New York School as well as Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. Contact with Pollock and Kline inspired him to do his first black-and-white abstract works in 1946; he returned to them in 1959. From 1950 he developed his first Women pictures, which are notable for such vehemence of handling that they at first caused a scandal. He retained this type of figuration until the 1990s. At the same time Willem de Kooning also worked on fairly abstract landscapes, mainly during the years between 1957 and 1961. Naturalized as an American citizen in 1962, de Kooning left New York the following year to settle at Springs on Long Island. In 1964 he received one of the greatest distinctions awarded in America, the “Presidential Medal of Freedom.” In 1970 he turned to sculpturing in bronze. At the latest from his participation in the 1954 Venice Biennale, where he was represented with one of his most important works, Excavation, Willem de Kooning has been regarded as a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism. These years of his career were filled with numerous shows of his work and retrospectives. His exceptional œuvre is suffused with the duality of traditional figuration and Gestural Abstract painting. His work is found in most major museums worldwide. Willem de Kooning died in Springs, USA, on March 19, 1997. Courtesy Lisi Contamporary

Creator:

Willem de Kooning (1904-1997, American, Dutch)

Creation Year:

1984

Dimensions:

Height: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)Width: 23.13 in (58.76 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph

Movement & Style:

Expressionist

Period:

1980-1989

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Fairlawn, OH

Reference Number:

Seller: FA122301stDibs: LU14012691912

View Invoice

Shop All Willem de Kooning

Willem de Kooning

As the de facto leader of the New York avant-garde art movement of the 1950s known as Abstract Expressionism, Dutch-American painter Willem de Kooning blended figuration and abstraction in a revolutionary manner that has resonated for decades. His best-known paintings, which were most often of women but gesturally abstract, were unique and incredibly influential at the time. Today, de Kooning is widely considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

De Kooning trained in fine and commercial arts at the Rotterdam Academy in his hometown of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, before immigrating to the United States in 1926. His first job in America was as a house painter in New Jersey, and the period left an indelible impression on him as he brought large brushes, loose strokes and fluid paints into his work as an artist. He also worked on public murals under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) program in the 1930s. De Kooning’s studies weren’t executed but they included some of his first abstractions, which showed the influence of like-minded artists as well as the music of the Jazz Age. His broad foundation in classical drawing and physical labor are evident even in the most abstract of his works, which amounted to a fusion of Cubism, Expressionism and Surrealism.

It was in New York that de Kooning found the space and an abundance of inspiration to pursue art full time. Surrounded by prominent artists like Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Lee Krasner and Fernand Léger, de Kooning drew from the freedom and boldness with which they all approached their work. In 1943, he married Elaine de Kooning, a versatile and immensely talented New York painter with a significant role in the Abstract Expressionist movement.

A major motif in de Kooning’s work is the deconstructed female form. A collection of paintings demonstrative of this is now known as his “Woman” series of the early 1950s, which remains controversial more than half a century later. Drawing inspiration from photography in magazines and using vivid colors and expressive brushstrokes to unforgettable effect, de Kooning depicted his subjects as grotesque, sexualized and loosely abstracted forms, which many critics deemed angry and misogynistic. But it is this very fearlessness in visual and conceptual experimentation that made de Kooning a crucial figure of Abstract Expressionism.

Today, de Kooning’s work is among the most coveted art in the world. His Interchange (1955), with its bold lines and shapes executed in primary colors, is one of the most expensive paintings ever sold.

Find a collection of Willem de Kooning art on 1stDibs.