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Property from a Private American Collection
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Cross-Legged Figure
Details
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Cross-Legged Figure
signed and numbered 'de Kooning 6/7' (on the proper left leg)
bronze with brown patina
24 x 18 x 15 1/8 in. (60.9 x 45.7 x 38.4 cm.)
Executed in 1972. This work is number six from an edition of seven plus three artist's proofs.
Cross-Legged Figure
signed and numbered 'de Kooning 6/7' (on the proper left leg)
bronze with brown patina
24 x 18 x 15 1/8 in. (60.9 x 45.7 x 38.4 cm.)
Executed in 1972. This work is number six from an edition of seven plus three artist's proofs.
Provenance
Xavier Fourcade Inc., New York
Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit
Private collection, Toronto
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, New York, 4 May 1994, lot 43
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit
Private collection, Toronto
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, New York, 4 May 1994, lot 43
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Literature
“Sculptures: Recent Works by Wilhelm de Kooning,” Arts Magazine, November 1972, pp. 62-63 (another example illustrated).
R. Hughes, “Slap and Twist,” Time, 23 October 1972, p. 71 (another example illustrated).
H. Rosenberg, Willem de Kooning, New York, 1974, n.p., pl. 204 (another example illustrated).
P. Lefevere, “The Master of Uncomfortable Truth,” To the Point International, 17 November 1975, p. 51.
F. Kelk, “Willem de Kooning toont ‘kneedsels emotie,’” Het Parool, 26 March 1976.
Willem de Kooning : sculptures, lithographies, peintures, exh. cat., Geneva, Muse´e d'art et d'histoire, 1977, p. 6, no. 16 (another example illustrated).
H. Gaugh, Willem de Kooning, New York, 1983, p. 100, no. 89 (another example illustrated).
J. M. Joosten, 20 jaar verzamelen: Aanwinsten Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1963-1984, Amsterdam, 1984, p. 231, no. 440 (another example illustrated).
J. Russell, “de Kooning’s Freedom Came Step by Exuberant Step,” The New York Times, 2 May 1984, p. 29 (another example illustrated).
P. Sollers, de Kooning, Vite, Paris, 1988, vol. II, n.p., no. 76 (another example illustrated).
H. Hanson, "Paul and Camille Oliver-Hoffman: Strong as Corrugated Iron,” ARTnews, February 1990, p. 93 (another example illustrated).
G. Rice, “The Discerning Eye of Hans Namuth,” The Rangefinder, December 1990, p. 46 (another example illustrated).
Willem de Kooning: Paintings, exh. cat., Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1994, p. 178, no. 5 (another example illustrated).
S. Moore, “The Human Form at Waddington,” Art & Auction, December 1995, p. 48.
Willem de Kooning, exh. cat., Zurich, Thomas Ammann Fine Art, no. 8 (another example illustrated in color).
Willem de Kooning Sculpture, exh. cat., New York, Matthew Marks Gallery, 1996, p. 55, no. 15 (another example illustrated).
S. Yard, Willem de Kooning, New York, 1997, p. 101, no. 86 (another example illustrated).
J. H. Colby, “Cranbrook Unwraps Modern Art Bonanza,” Detroit News, 14 December 2001 (another example illustrated).
R. Green, “Out of the Crates,” ARTnews, January 2002, p. 44 (another example illustrated in color).
B. Hess, De Kooning, Cologne, 2004, p. 65 (another example illustrated in color).
R. Smith, “Willem de Kooning: The Figure, Movement and Gesture,” The New York Times, 17 June 2011, p. C27 (another example illustrated).
K. D. Thomas, "Shaping de Kooning’s Legacy,” ARTnews, September 2011, p. 83 (another example illustrated in color).
H. Cotter, "Unfurling a Life of Creative Exuberance," The New York Times, New York, 15 September 2011 (another example illustrated in color).
J. Saltz, “Definitive at MoMA, the Full, Amazing, Ever-evolving, Never-Retreating Story of Willem de Kooning,” New York Magazine, 26 September 2011, pp. 74-75 (another example illustrated in color).
R. Hughes, “Slap and Twist,” Time, 23 October 1972, p. 71 (another example illustrated).
H. Rosenberg, Willem de Kooning, New York, 1974, n.p., pl. 204 (another example illustrated).
P. Lefevere, “The Master of Uncomfortable Truth,” To the Point International, 17 November 1975, p. 51.
F. Kelk, “Willem de Kooning toont ‘kneedsels emotie,’” Het Parool, 26 March 1976.
Willem de Kooning : sculptures, lithographies, peintures, exh. cat., Geneva, Muse´e d'art et d'histoire, 1977, p. 6, no. 16 (another example illustrated).
H. Gaugh, Willem de Kooning, New York, 1983, p. 100, no. 89 (another example illustrated).
J. M. Joosten, 20 jaar verzamelen: Aanwinsten Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 1963-1984, Amsterdam, 1984, p. 231, no. 440 (another example illustrated).
J. Russell, “de Kooning’s Freedom Came Step by Exuberant Step,” The New York Times, 2 May 1984, p. 29 (another example illustrated).
P. Sollers, de Kooning, Vite, Paris, 1988, vol. II, n.p., no. 76 (another example illustrated).
H. Hanson, "Paul and Camille Oliver-Hoffman: Strong as Corrugated Iron,” ARTnews, February 1990, p. 93 (another example illustrated).
G. Rice, “The Discerning Eye of Hans Namuth,” The Rangefinder, December 1990, p. 46 (another example illustrated).
Willem de Kooning: Paintings, exh. cat., Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1994, p. 178, no. 5 (another example illustrated).
S. Moore, “The Human Form at Waddington,” Art & Auction, December 1995, p. 48.
Willem de Kooning, exh. cat., Zurich, Thomas Ammann Fine Art, no. 8 (another example illustrated in color).
Willem de Kooning Sculpture, exh. cat., New York, Matthew Marks Gallery, 1996, p. 55, no. 15 (another example illustrated).
S. Yard, Willem de Kooning, New York, 1997, p. 101, no. 86 (another example illustrated).
J. H. Colby, “Cranbrook Unwraps Modern Art Bonanza,” Detroit News, 14 December 2001 (another example illustrated).
R. Green, “Out of the Crates,” ARTnews, January 2002, p. 44 (another example illustrated in color).
B. Hess, De Kooning, Cologne, 2004, p. 65 (another example illustrated in color).
R. Smith, “Willem de Kooning: The Figure, Movement and Gesture,” The New York Times, 17 June 2011, p. C27 (another example illustrated).
K. D. Thomas, "Shaping de Kooning’s Legacy,” ARTnews, September 2011, p. 83 (another example illustrated in color).
H. Cotter, "Unfurling a Life of Creative Exuberance," The New York Times, New York, 15 September 2011 (another example illustrated in color).
J. Saltz, “Definitive at MoMA, the Full, Amazing, Ever-evolving, Never-Retreating Story of Willem de Kooning,” New York Magazine, 26 September 2011, pp. 74-75 (another example illustrated in color).
Exhibited
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Willem de Kooning: Sculpture and New Paintings, October-November 1972, n.p., no. 47 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Detroit, Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Willem de Kooning: Paintings, Drawing, Sculpture, May-June 1973, no. 21.
Minneapolis, Walker Art Center; Ottawa, The National Gallery of Canada; Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection; Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery and Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, De Kooning: Drawings/Sculptures, March 1974 - April 1975, no. 142, pl. 65 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Toronto, Pollock Gallery, de Kooning: Major Paintings and Sculpture, October-November 1974 (another example exhibited).
Art Institute of Chicago, The 34th Exhibition of the Society for Contemporary Art: The Small Scale in Contemporary Art, May-June 1975, no. 26 (another example exhibited).
Tokyo, Fuji Television Gallery and Paris, Galerie des Arts, Willem de Kooning, September-November 1975, no. 38 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
West Palm Beach, Norton Gallery of Art, de Kooning: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, 1967-75, December 1975-February 1976, no. 22 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum; Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt Duisburg; Gevena, Cabinet des Estampes, Musée d'art et d'histoire and Grenoble, Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture, Willem de Kooning: Beelden en Litho's, March 1976-September 1977, no. B16 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
University Art Museum, University of Texas, de Kooning: Lithographs, Sculpture and Painting, October-November 1976 (another example exhibited).
Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, De Kooning: Recent Works, January-February 1977 (another example exhibited).
Edinburgh, Fruit Market Gallery; London, Serpentine Gallery, The Sculptures of de Kooning with Related Paintings, Drawings & Lithographs, October 1977-January 1978, no. 16 (another example exhibited).
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Willem de Kooning in East Hampton, February-April 1978, p. 122, no. 91 (illustrated, another example exhibited).
Bridgeport, Museum of Art, Science and Industry, Fairfield Arts Festival: The Willem de Kooning Exhibition, June 1978, no. 1 (another example exhibited).
Cedar Falls, Gallery of Art, University of Northern Iowa; The St. Louis Art Museum and Cincinnati, Contemporary Arts Center, de Kooning, 1969-78, October 1978-June 1979, p. 43, no. 32 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Pittsburgh, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh International Series: Willem de Kooning, October 1979-January 1980, p. 136, no. 119 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
East Hampton, Guild Hall, Willem de Kooning: Works from 1951-1981, May-July 1981, pp. 21 and 30, no. 70 (illustrated, another example exhibited).
Amsterdam, The Stedelijk Museum; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Willem de Kooning: The North Atlantic Light, May-October 1983, p. 106, no. 65 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Cologne, Josef Haubrich Kunsthalle, Willem de Kooning: Sculpture, September-October 1983, p. 63, no. 15, (another example exhibited and illustrated).
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art and Berlin, Akademie der Künste, Willem de Kooning: Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture, December 1983-February 1984, p. 256, no. 271 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Ten Years of Collecting at the MCA, April-June 1984, p. 59 (illustrated).
New York, Lennon Weinberg, Inc., Summer Exhibition, Part Two: Sculptors, July-August 1991 (another example exhibited).
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Under Development: Dreaming of The MCA's Collection, April-August 1994, p. 15, no. 51 (illustrated).
London, Waddington Galleries, Of The Human Form, November-December 1995, p. 14, pl. 6 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, C&M Arts, Willem de Kooning: Paintings 1982-1986, April-June 1996 (another example exhibited).
New York, C&M Arts, American Works: 1945-1975, October 1997-December 1997, no. 8 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, Matthew Marks Gallery and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Willem de Kooning: Drawings and Sculpture, October-December 1998, pl. 53 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
New York, C&M Arts, Willem de Kooning: Selected Paintings and Sculptures 1964-1973, October-December 2000, pl. 9 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color on the back cover).
Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Art Museum, Three Decades of Contemporary Art: The Dr. John and Rose M. Shuey Collection, December 2001-April 2002, p. 53 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Art Museum, Cranbrook Art Museum: 100 Treasures, December 2003-March 2004, p. 192, no. 69 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, Pace Gallery, Willem de Kooning: The Figure, Movement and Gesture, April-July 2011, p. 44, pl. 25 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, de Kooning: A Retrospective, September 2011-January 2012, pp. 412, 414 and 496, pl. 162 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
Detroit, Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Willem de Kooning: Paintings, Drawing, Sculpture, May-June 1973, no. 21.
Minneapolis, Walker Art Center; Ottawa, The National Gallery of Canada; Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection; Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery and Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, De Kooning: Drawings/Sculptures, March 1974 - April 1975, no. 142, pl. 65 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Toronto, Pollock Gallery, de Kooning: Major Paintings and Sculpture, October-November 1974 (another example exhibited).
Art Institute of Chicago, The 34th Exhibition of the Society for Contemporary Art: The Small Scale in Contemporary Art, May-June 1975, no. 26 (another example exhibited).
Tokyo, Fuji Television Gallery and Paris, Galerie des Arts, Willem de Kooning, September-November 1975, no. 38 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
West Palm Beach, Norton Gallery of Art, de Kooning: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, 1967-75, December 1975-February 1976, no. 22 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum; Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt Duisburg; Gevena, Cabinet des Estampes, Musée d'art et d'histoire and Grenoble, Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture, Willem de Kooning: Beelden en Litho's, March 1976-September 1977, no. B16 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
University Art Museum, University of Texas, de Kooning: Lithographs, Sculpture and Painting, October-November 1976 (another example exhibited).
Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, De Kooning: Recent Works, January-February 1977 (another example exhibited).
Edinburgh, Fruit Market Gallery; London, Serpentine Gallery, The Sculptures of de Kooning with Related Paintings, Drawings & Lithographs, October 1977-January 1978, no. 16 (another example exhibited).
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Willem de Kooning in East Hampton, February-April 1978, p. 122, no. 91 (illustrated, another example exhibited).
Bridgeport, Museum of Art, Science and Industry, Fairfield Arts Festival: The Willem de Kooning Exhibition, June 1978, no. 1 (another example exhibited).
Cedar Falls, Gallery of Art, University of Northern Iowa; The St. Louis Art Museum and Cincinnati, Contemporary Arts Center, de Kooning, 1969-78, October 1978-June 1979, p. 43, no. 32 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Pittsburgh, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh International Series: Willem de Kooning, October 1979-January 1980, p. 136, no. 119 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
East Hampton, Guild Hall, Willem de Kooning: Works from 1951-1981, May-July 1981, pp. 21 and 30, no. 70 (illustrated, another example exhibited).
Amsterdam, The Stedelijk Museum; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Willem de Kooning: The North Atlantic Light, May-October 1983, p. 106, no. 65 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Cologne, Josef Haubrich Kunsthalle, Willem de Kooning: Sculpture, September-October 1983, p. 63, no. 15, (another example exhibited and illustrated).
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art and Berlin, Akademie der Künste, Willem de Kooning: Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture, December 1983-February 1984, p. 256, no. 271 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Ten Years of Collecting at the MCA, April-June 1984, p. 59 (illustrated).
New York, Lennon Weinberg, Inc., Summer Exhibition, Part Two: Sculptors, July-August 1991 (another example exhibited).
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Under Development: Dreaming of The MCA's Collection, April-August 1994, p. 15, no. 51 (illustrated).
London, Waddington Galleries, Of The Human Form, November-December 1995, p. 14, pl. 6 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, C&M Arts, Willem de Kooning: Paintings 1982-1986, April-June 1996 (another example exhibited).
New York, C&M Arts, American Works: 1945-1975, October 1997-December 1997, no. 8 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, Matthew Marks Gallery and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Willem de Kooning: Drawings and Sculpture, October-December 1998, pl. 53 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
New York, C&M Arts, Willem de Kooning: Selected Paintings and Sculptures 1964-1973, October-December 2000, pl. 9 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color on the back cover).
Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Art Museum, Three Decades of Contemporary Art: The Dr. John and Rose M. Shuey Collection, December 2001-April 2002, p. 53 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Art Museum, Cranbrook Art Museum: 100 Treasures, December 2003-March 2004, p. 192, no. 69 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, Pace Gallery, Willem de Kooning: The Figure, Movement and Gesture, April-July 2011, p. 44, pl. 25 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, de Kooning: A Retrospective, September 2011-January 2012, pp. 412, 414 and 496, pl. 162 (another example exhibited and illustrated in color).
Further Details
Examples from the edition are in the collections of Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum and Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Art Museum.
Between the years 1972 and 1974, Willem de Kooning modeled a group of eleven sculptures that were cast at the Modern Art Foundry in Queens, New York and exhibited in a seminal exhibition of the artist’s painting and sculpture at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1974. Cross-Legged Figure was completed in March of 1972 and included in that show, which was a critical success for the artist at a pivotal moment in his career. Upon reviewing the show, the critic Carter Ratcliff said the selection “let one see for the first time the place of de Kooning’s sculpture: where it stands in the flow of reinvention that constitutes his style” (C. Ratcliff, “Willem de Kooning,” Art International, vol. 19, no. 10, December 1975, p. 14). Indeed, de Kooning’s work from this period marks a turning point; not only did these highly modeled sculptures defy the conventions of classical sculpture, but they also ushered forth a new era of painting, marked by vibrant abstractions rendered in brilliant jewel-tones.
Cross-Legged Figure is an important work from this juncture, whose lively, highly worked surface retains the vigor and strength of the artist’s hand. Arranged along a central vertical axis, the figure appears to hover within mid-air, its legs delicately crossed while its arms and splayed fingers reach into the surrounding space, vehemently proclaiming their presence. While decidedly monochrome by nature, the sculpture’s dimpled surface brilliantly catches and deflects light as it delicately falls into the grooves and pits of the surface. During this period, de Kooning favored a wetter, more malleable clay than ever before and wore thick, heavy gloves, which allowed him to twist, gouge and knead with forcefulness and vigor, resulting in work that retains deep impressions in the areas where he dug his fingers, pinched the clay or kneaded it into being.
The sculptures that de Kooning produced during this period were decidedly larger and more complex than the small clay pieces he had made while in Rome in 1969. With the assistance of David Christian, de Kooning developed a working method that provided him a greater control and freedom than working with oil had allowed. It is well known that de Kooning often worked on multiple paintings simultaneously, often scraping down one day’s work to begin anew on top of the underlying traces of paint, so it is no surprise that the clay de Kooning preferred was exceptionally wet and malleable. This allowed him to start and stop work wherever he chose. De Kooning recalled, “In some ways clay is even better than oil. …You can work and work on a painting but you can’t start over again with the canvas like it was before you put that first stroke down. And sometimes, in the end, it’s no good, no matter what you do. But with clay, I cover it with a wet cloth and come back to it the next morning and if I don’t like what I did, or I changed my mind, I can break it down and start over. It’s always fresh.” (W.de Kooning, 1972, quoted by M. Stevens and A. Swan, De Kooning: An American Master, New York, 2005, p. 545).
When Cross-Legged Figure was exhibited alongside de Kooning’s other sculpted works from this era, critics were quick to note the relationship of de Kooning’s sculpture to his painting. Writing on the Janis show, Grace Glueck commented: “Seldom has 3-D work so faithfully mirrored that on canvas—his two nearly life-size bronzes of a man and woman, with their gnarled, turbulent surfaces full of movement, could have been plucked from the artist’s paintings and dipped in metal” (G. Glueck, “Previews: Exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery,” Art in America, vol. 60, no. 5, September/October 1972, p. 121). True to this notion, de Kooning’s sculptures from this era were often based directly on drawings and paintings that he had done in the years preceding; he would select a drawing to be enlarged with a projector and Christian would trace its silhouette onto plywood, which would become the armature for the sculpted work. Critics have pointed to two paintings that appear to have offered the initial direction for Cross-Legged Figure. They are Untitled, 1970 and Woman in the Garden, 1971, both of which are aligned along a vertical axis and display the twisted limbs and anatomical contortions of Cross-Legged Figure.
For de Kooning, the sculptures he produced during this period were not only informed by his two-dimensional art, but they also allowed him to think differently about the way in which he painted. In fact, the year directly following his last sculpted works—1975—marks a brilliant flourishing of abstract paintings, splendidly colored in rich, jewel tones, in which the figure and landscape seem to have finally merged within a single, two-dimensional plane. The sculptures he made between 1971 and 1974 seem to have directly influenced these paintings. His assistant David Christian recalled, “His stated purpose to me from our first meeting was to use sculpture to make spatial dimensional shapes as an exploration to enhance his painting. …From the outset he approached the sculpture medium with a totally original outlook, and from the get-go had little consideration of how either clay or even the sculpture medium has been approached historically; that is, either technically, or in terms of the final product. He always totally focused on the work at hand and the completion of an individual work barely entered his thinking at all. Once he started sculpting, painting or drawing, finishing was the last thing on his mind and everything was a string to the next bead” (J. Elderfield, De Kooning: A Retrospective, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011, p. 411).
Between the years 1972 and 1974, Willem de Kooning modeled a group of eleven sculptures that were cast at the Modern Art Foundry in Queens, New York and exhibited in a seminal exhibition of the artist’s painting and sculpture at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1974. Cross-Legged Figure was completed in March of 1972 and included in that show, which was a critical success for the artist at a pivotal moment in his career. Upon reviewing the show, the critic Carter Ratcliff said the selection “let one see for the first time the place of de Kooning’s sculpture: where it stands in the flow of reinvention that constitutes his style” (C. Ratcliff, “Willem de Kooning,” Art International, vol. 19, no. 10, December 1975, p. 14). Indeed, de Kooning’s work from this period marks a turning point; not only did these highly modeled sculptures defy the conventions of classical sculpture, but they also ushered forth a new era of painting, marked by vibrant abstractions rendered in brilliant jewel-tones.
Cross-Legged Figure is an important work from this juncture, whose lively, highly worked surface retains the vigor and strength of the artist’s hand. Arranged along a central vertical axis, the figure appears to hover within mid-air, its legs delicately crossed while its arms and splayed fingers reach into the surrounding space, vehemently proclaiming their presence. While decidedly monochrome by nature, the sculpture’s dimpled surface brilliantly catches and deflects light as it delicately falls into the grooves and pits of the surface. During this period, de Kooning favored a wetter, more malleable clay than ever before and wore thick, heavy gloves, which allowed him to twist, gouge and knead with forcefulness and vigor, resulting in work that retains deep impressions in the areas where he dug his fingers, pinched the clay or kneaded it into being.
The sculptures that de Kooning produced during this period were decidedly larger and more complex than the small clay pieces he had made while in Rome in 1969. With the assistance of David Christian, de Kooning developed a working method that provided him a greater control and freedom than working with oil had allowed. It is well known that de Kooning often worked on multiple paintings simultaneously, often scraping down one day’s work to begin anew on top of the underlying traces of paint, so it is no surprise that the clay de Kooning preferred was exceptionally wet and malleable. This allowed him to start and stop work wherever he chose. De Kooning recalled, “In some ways clay is even better than oil. …You can work and work on a painting but you can’t start over again with the canvas like it was before you put that first stroke down. And sometimes, in the end, it’s no good, no matter what you do. But with clay, I cover it with a wet cloth and come back to it the next morning and if I don’t like what I did, or I changed my mind, I can break it down and start over. It’s always fresh.” (W.de Kooning, 1972, quoted by M. Stevens and A. Swan, De Kooning: An American Master, New York, 2005, p. 545).
When Cross-Legged Figure was exhibited alongside de Kooning’s other sculpted works from this era, critics were quick to note the relationship of de Kooning’s sculpture to his painting. Writing on the Janis show, Grace Glueck commented: “Seldom has 3-D work so faithfully mirrored that on canvas—his two nearly life-size bronzes of a man and woman, with their gnarled, turbulent surfaces full of movement, could have been plucked from the artist’s paintings and dipped in metal” (G. Glueck, “Previews: Exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery,” Art in America, vol. 60, no. 5, September/October 1972, p. 121). True to this notion, de Kooning’s sculptures from this era were often based directly on drawings and paintings that he had done in the years preceding; he would select a drawing to be enlarged with a projector and Christian would trace its silhouette onto plywood, which would become the armature for the sculpted work. Critics have pointed to two paintings that appear to have offered the initial direction for Cross-Legged Figure. They are Untitled, 1970 and Woman in the Garden, 1971, both of which are aligned along a vertical axis and display the twisted limbs and anatomical contortions of Cross-Legged Figure.
For de Kooning, the sculptures he produced during this period were not only informed by his two-dimensional art, but they also allowed him to think differently about the way in which he painted. In fact, the year directly following his last sculpted works—1975—marks a brilliant flourishing of abstract paintings, splendidly colored in rich, jewel tones, in which the figure and landscape seem to have finally merged within a single, two-dimensional plane. The sculptures he made between 1971 and 1974 seem to have directly influenced these paintings. His assistant David Christian recalled, “His stated purpose to me from our first meeting was to use sculpture to make spatial dimensional shapes as an exploration to enhance his painting. …From the outset he approached the sculpture medium with a totally original outlook, and from the get-go had little consideration of how either clay or even the sculpture medium has been approached historically; that is, either technically, or in terms of the final product. He always totally focused on the work at hand and the completion of an individual work barely entered his thinking at all. Once he started sculpting, painting or drawing, finishing was the last thing on his mind and everything was a string to the next bead” (J. Elderfield, De Kooning: A Retrospective, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011, p. 411).
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