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Lot Essay
Willem de Kooning's Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) is a painterly tour-de-force, a rare and important painting from a small series of women that de Kooning painted in 1940. Hauntingly beautiful, the painting was created just a few years after de Kooning met Elaine Fried, who he would later marry in 1943. Elaine and her sister, Marjorie, were frequent subjects in these early works, and many paintings from this period were inspired by her. In the present work, the sitter's thick, auburn hair and large, beautiful eyes recall photographs of Elaine taken at the time.
Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) was created during an important turning point in de Kooning's early career. Painted in 1940, it belongs to a small and crucial series of women paintings that, taken together, represent the artist on the verge of an altogether revolutionary artistic breakthrough. De Kooning's work of the preceding years (the 1930s) reveals an artist still grappling with a sense of style, heavily influenced by his friend and fellow painter Arshile Gorky, and working for the WPA and struggling to make ends meet. Near the end of that decade, in 1939, de Kooning painted a powerful series of men, such as Seated Man, 1939 (in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden), that will serve as a gateway to the Women paintings be began in 1940. The men retain a confluence of influences - from from Gorky's own Self-Portrait (1937), to Picasso's cubism to the Pompeian murals he viewed at the Metropolitan Museum in those early years, and the men de Kooning saw standing in subway stations around New York City.
The exceptional Woman series of 1940 - during which Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) was painted -- came into breathtaking life just shortly after de Kooning met Elaine Fried, in the Autumn of 1938. De Kooning was 34 years-old at the time, and Elaine was dating the painter Milton Resnick. She was introduced to de Kooning by one of her art professors, and later remarked:
I thought he had seaman's eyes that seemed as if they were staring at very wide spaces all day. He had an inhuman look - vacant, limpid, angelic. I visited his studio several days later with a friend. It was the cleanest place I ever saw in my life. It had painted gray floors, white walls, one table, one bed, four chairs, one easel, one fantastically good photograph that cost $800 when he was only making $22 a week, and one painting - a man - on the easel. The whole effect was that this man was great. (Elaine de Kooning, quoted in B. Schierbeek, Willem de Kooning: A Portrait, Leiden, 2005, p. 18).
De Kooning offered to give Elaine drawing lessons, and later Resnick would claim that he "seduced her, by teaching her art" (M. Resnick, quoted in C. Strickland, "Shining a Light on the Other de Kooning," The New York Times, 21 November 1993 (The Long Island Edition), p. 1).
A painter in her own right, Elaine's influence on de Kooning cannot be overstated, and their love affair is one of the most storied in the history of Modern Art. Elaine was born Elaine Marie Catherine Fried in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918 (though she would later say she was born in 1920). The oldest of four children, she was raised in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. In the late 1920s, her mother was forcibly removed from her home based on reports of neglect. She was committed to a nearby psychiatric facility, forcing Elaine to rear her younger siblings. In school, she excelled at nearly every subject; in the late 1930s, she enrolled at the da Vinci school on 3rd avenue and 34th street in Manhattan, where she fell into leftist politics and met the painter Milton Resnick. Resnick introduced Elaine to the American Artist's School, whose teachers included Stuart Davis and Raphael Soyer, and in 1938 -- the same year she met de Kooning -- she finally sold her first watercolor for $10. In 1939, Elaine moved into Willem's studio on West 22nd Street.
According to the legendary photograph Rudy Burckhardt, "Bill was incredibly in love with her, but she didn't treat him very well at the beginning .. She would lean back on the couch and say, 'Bill. Cigarette.' And he would leap to get it." (R. Burckhardt, quoted on https://www.theartstory.org/artist-de-kooning-elaine.htm#)
The hauntingly beautiful Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) bares striking resemblance to a tenderly rendered graphite drawing of Elaine from the same year. A separate, but similar graphite drawing, appears to have been a related study for the present work. In Untitled (Portrait of a Woman), the figure's shoulders and decolletage are exquisitely depicted in a quite realistic hand, in contrast to the wholly abstract background and stylized presentation of the figure's clothing. The most beautiful aspect of the painting is perhaps the figure's face, whose beautiful eyes with their powerful gaze reach into the viewer with an arresting directness, and recalls the attention de Kooning lavished on the graphite drawings related to this work.
In contrast to her neck and shoulders, de Kooning gives us a rather stylized presentation of the figure's face, emphasizing her large, almond-shaped eyes and stylized coif, which sits upon her head like a crown (in fact, de Kooning depicts a crown in at least two works from this era, most notably Queen of Hearts of 1943-1946). The work is brilliantly colored; the figure's skin is truly luminous and the background slowly evolves to reveal subtle variations in color and brushwork. The subtle shimmer of the painting's palette, along with its traditional portrait-like presentation, has been compared to a Duccio Madonna and similar Italian Renaissance paintings that de Kooning would have seen in the Met.
Compared to the clothing and background, the face and body of the figure are so realistically rendered as to appear disjointed from the rest of the painting. The figure's bare shoulders seem to sit behind her fitted bodice, so that she appears to hover above a more rigid costume.I n painting the work, it seems that de Kooning is trying to come to grips with Elaine, delving deep into her personality, while rendering her within a traditional mode. Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) is an altogether introspective portrait yet retains the trappings and formality of traditional portraiture. In this way, the work might be seen as a conflation of two ideas -- de Kooning's Elaine and de Kooning's Woman.
Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) was created during an important turning point in de Kooning's early career. Painted in 1940, it belongs to a small and crucial series of women paintings that, taken together, represent the artist on the verge of an altogether revolutionary artistic breakthrough. De Kooning's work of the preceding years (the 1930s) reveals an artist still grappling with a sense of style, heavily influenced by his friend and fellow painter Arshile Gorky, and working for the WPA and struggling to make ends meet. Near the end of that decade, in 1939, de Kooning painted a powerful series of men, such as Seated Man, 1939 (in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden), that will serve as a gateway to the Women paintings be began in 1940. The men retain a confluence of influences - from from Gorky's own Self-Portrait (1937), to Picasso's cubism to the Pompeian murals he viewed at the Metropolitan Museum in those early years, and the men de Kooning saw standing in subway stations around New York City.
The exceptional Woman series of 1940 - during which Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) was painted -- came into breathtaking life just shortly after de Kooning met Elaine Fried, in the Autumn of 1938. De Kooning was 34 years-old at the time, and Elaine was dating the painter Milton Resnick. She was introduced to de Kooning by one of her art professors, and later remarked:
I thought he had seaman's eyes that seemed as if they were staring at very wide spaces all day. He had an inhuman look - vacant, limpid, angelic. I visited his studio several days later with a friend. It was the cleanest place I ever saw in my life. It had painted gray floors, white walls, one table, one bed, four chairs, one easel, one fantastically good photograph that cost $800 when he was only making $22 a week, and one painting - a man - on the easel. The whole effect was that this man was great. (Elaine de Kooning, quoted in B. Schierbeek, Willem de Kooning: A Portrait, Leiden, 2005, p. 18).
De Kooning offered to give Elaine drawing lessons, and later Resnick would claim that he "seduced her, by teaching her art" (M. Resnick, quoted in C. Strickland, "Shining a Light on the Other de Kooning," The New York Times, 21 November 1993 (The Long Island Edition), p. 1).
A painter in her own right, Elaine's influence on de Kooning cannot be overstated, and their love affair is one of the most storied in the history of Modern Art. Elaine was born Elaine Marie Catherine Fried in Brooklyn, New York, in 1918 (though she would later say she was born in 1920). The oldest of four children, she was raised in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. In the late 1920s, her mother was forcibly removed from her home based on reports of neglect. She was committed to a nearby psychiatric facility, forcing Elaine to rear her younger siblings. In school, she excelled at nearly every subject; in the late 1930s, she enrolled at the da Vinci school on 3rd avenue and 34th street in Manhattan, where she fell into leftist politics and met the painter Milton Resnick. Resnick introduced Elaine to the American Artist's School, whose teachers included Stuart Davis and Raphael Soyer, and in 1938 -- the same year she met de Kooning -- she finally sold her first watercolor for $10. In 1939, Elaine moved into Willem's studio on West 22nd Street.
According to the legendary photograph Rudy Burckhardt, "Bill was incredibly in love with her, but she didn't treat him very well at the beginning .. She would lean back on the couch and say, 'Bill. Cigarette.' And he would leap to get it." (R. Burckhardt, quoted on https://www.theartstory.org/artist-de-kooning-elaine.htm#)
The hauntingly beautiful Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) bares striking resemblance to a tenderly rendered graphite drawing of Elaine from the same year. A separate, but similar graphite drawing, appears to have been a related study for the present work. In Untitled (Portrait of a Woman), the figure's shoulders and decolletage are exquisitely depicted in a quite realistic hand, in contrast to the wholly abstract background and stylized presentation of the figure's clothing. The most beautiful aspect of the painting is perhaps the figure's face, whose beautiful eyes with their powerful gaze reach into the viewer with an arresting directness, and recalls the attention de Kooning lavished on the graphite drawings related to this work.
In contrast to her neck and shoulders, de Kooning gives us a rather stylized presentation of the figure's face, emphasizing her large, almond-shaped eyes and stylized coif, which sits upon her head like a crown (in fact, de Kooning depicts a crown in at least two works from this era, most notably Queen of Hearts of 1943-1946). The work is brilliantly colored; the figure's skin is truly luminous and the background slowly evolves to reveal subtle variations in color and brushwork. The subtle shimmer of the painting's palette, along with its traditional portrait-like presentation, has been compared to a Duccio Madonna and similar Italian Renaissance paintings that de Kooning would have seen in the Met.
Compared to the clothing and background, the face and body of the figure are so realistically rendered as to appear disjointed from the rest of the painting. The figure's bare shoulders seem to sit behind her fitted bodice, so that she appears to hover above a more rigid costume.I n painting the work, it seems that de Kooning is trying to come to grips with Elaine, delving deep into her personality, while rendering her within a traditional mode. Untitled (Portrait of a Woman) is an altogether introspective portrait yet retains the trappings and formality of traditional portraiture. In this way, the work might be seen as a conflation of two ideas -- de Kooning's Elaine and de Kooning's Woman.