Skip to main content

Willem de Kooning

Willem de Kooning
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
Sitter
Willem de Kooning, 24 Apr 1904 - 19 Mar 1997
Date
1954
Type
Drawing
Medium
Pencil on paper
Dimensions
Image: 33.2 × 23 cm (13 1/16 × 9 1/16")
Sheet: 60.2 × 47.4 cm (23 11/16 × 18 11/16")
Mat: 71.1 × 55.9 cm (28 × 22")
Topic
Home Furnishings\Drinking vessel\Cup
Willem de Kooning: Male
Willem de Kooning: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter
Willem de Kooning: Visual Arts\Art instructor
Willem de Kooning: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter\Muralist
Willem de Kooning: Presidential Medal of Freedom
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Frank Stanton
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Elaine de Kooning Trust
Object number
NPG.81.32
Exhibition Label
Elaine de Kooning sometimes made detailed pencil drawings during the 1950s as the starting point for one or more paintings of her subjects. This precise rendering of Willem de Kooning is related to at least one painting, now unlocated. Its casual pose, with Willem holding a glass or can and another container on the ground, is typical of Elaine’s candid, informal approach to portraiture. She has used the drawing to sketch out a compositional arrangement and to delineate Willem’s characteristic features with fluid pencil strokes.
En los años cincuenta, Elaine de Kooning solía hacer dibujos detallados a lápiz como punto de partida para una o más pinturas del mismo sujeto. Esta imagen fiel de Willem de Kooning se ha relacionado con por lo menos una pintura (sin localizar hasta la fecha). La pose relajada de Willem, con un vaso o lata en la mano y otro en el suelo, es típica del tono cándido e informal con que Elaine aborda el retratismo. La artista usó el dibujo para definir una composición y delinear con trazos fluidos los rasgos característicos de Willem.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view