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Elaine de Kooning Self-Portrait

Elaine de Kooning Self-Portrait
Usage Conditions Apply
Title
Self-Portrait #3
Artist
Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
Sitter
Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
Date
1946
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on Masonite
Dimensions
Stretcher: 75.6 x 57.5cm (29 3/4 x 22 5/8") (6/24/13 exam form: 30 1/4 x 23)
Frame: 98.4 x 79.7 x 4.1cm (38 3/4 x 31 3/8 x 1 5/8") (6/24/13 exam form: 38 3/4 x 31 1/2 x 1 1/2)
Topic
Home Furnishings\Furniture
Printed Material\Book
Artwork
Nature & Environment\Plant\Flower
Interior\Studio\Art
Self-portrait
Elaine de Kooning: Female
Elaine de Kooning: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter
Portrait
Place
United States\New York\Kings\New York
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
NPG.94.81
Exhibition Label
Born Brooklyn, New York
Clad in a turtleneck, trousers, and smock, Elaine de Kooning looks directly at the viewer, asserting her presence as an artist. Deeply invested in her work as a portraitist, she poses in a way that reveals her keen sense of pictorial organization. De Kooning surrounds herself with still life objects in what may be a studio setting, an allusion to tutorials from the artist Willem de Kooning, who became her spouse in 1943. The sketchbook in her hands is a potential reference to her work not only in abstract and figurative paintings but also drawings.
Active during a period that saw the rise of Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning became well-known for her expressive portraits and her facility for capturing her subjects’ individuality, as reflected in her portrait of John F. Kennedy (1963) on view in the America’s Presidents galleries.
Nacida en Brooklyn, Nueva York
Con suéter de cuello alto, pantalones y blusón, Elaine de Kooning mira directamente al observador, afirmando su presencia como artista. Muy dedicada a su labor de retratista, aquí posa revelando su agudo sentido de organización pictórica. De Kooning se rodea de objetos típicos de los bodegones en lo que podría ser un estudio, evocando quizás las lecciones del artista Willem de Kooning, con quien se casó en 1943. El cuaderno de bocetos que sostiene podría ser una alusión a su labor no solo en la pintura abstracta y figurativa sino en el dibujo.
Activa en una época en que cobró auge el expresionismo abstracto, De Kooning se dio a conocer por sus expresivos retratos y su facilidad para captar la individualidad de sus modelos, como lo refleja su retrato de John F. Kennedy (1963) expuesto en las galerías de Presidentes de Estados Unidos.
Provenance
The artist; her estate; (Lindsay & Thomas, Inc. [Joan T. Washburn], New York); purchased 1994 NPG
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view