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Lot Essay
"I can't get away from the woman. Wherever I look, I find her"–Willem de Kooning.
This highly painterly rendition of a naked woman is comprised of rich layers of de Kooning’s signature vigorous brushwork, evident in the individual swathes of thick pigment that sweep across the surface of the work. Pink Woman Torso was painted during a prolific period in the artist’s career as the previous year he had begun a new series of his Women paintings centered, in part, on the image of the modern American women that was being forged by the social and political movements of the 1960s. Looking at images taken from popular culture, de Kooning created works that were assemblages of scrawled, smeared, splashed and daubed marks combined with precise and caustic illustrative motifs. The female figure emerges from the tumultuous surface of the canvas as if born from the sensual energy of de Kooning's gestural brushwork. "Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented", de Kooning famously once remarked, but in fact, these works grew out of an extended period of innovation in which that artist had deliberately attempted to subvert his prodigious gifts as a draughtsman in favour of newer, unconsciously made, but more vital marks. (W. de Kooning quoted in Willem de Kooning Drawings Paintings Sculptures, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1983, p. 115). One of the pioneers of Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning’s celebrated depictions of women are among the most significant works of his career.
Central to de Kooning’s work was the deconstruction of the form to a level bordering on abstraction yet still hovering within the confines of the figural. Built up from rapid strokes of the artist’s brush, the contours of the female form—distinct outline of hips and breasts—materialize to create a torso placed squarely on two sturdy legs. A quick flourish suggests rudimentary facial features (eyes, hair and lips), yet just as the form begins to emerge from the chaos of the lines, it seems to break down. It is due to this concurrent state of reconstruction and deconstruction of the body, eroticism versus monstrosity as well as the eerie assemblages of body parts that de Kooning achieves an ambiguity that not only challenged notions of femininity but also became the cornerstone of his artistic output.
In 1963, de Kooning left New York City for the pastoral environs of East Hampton and the dramatic change in scenery proved to be a catalyst for a shift in the artist's work. In his new surroundings, de Kooning found himself deeply moved by nature and began to incorporate it into his work by means of a series of paintings representing female figures in landscapes. In these works, de Kooning returned to the subject responsible for his initial fame: the woman. However, instead of the aggressive, maniacal-looking women of the 1950's, this new group of women were an altogether more jubilant group. As art historian Thomas Hess writes, "de Kooning's pictures of the 1960s are drained of the anguish and look of despair which had so profoundly marked his earlier work. In the new Woman, the mood is Joy" (T. Hess, de Kooning: Recent Paintings, New York, 1968 p. 43).
De Kooning’s Woman paintings are among some of the most famous depictions of the female form in all of art history. They were the result of his continuing exploration of the competing tenets of abstraction and figuration during which time he produced an abundant vocabulary of shapes and images derived from the contemplation of the figure. Although he was hailed as a founding father of Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning was never able to completely abandon the figure. In an interview, the artist once commented, "It is really absurd to make an image, like a human image. But then all of a sudden it becomes even more absurd not to do it" (W. de Kooning, quoted in D. Sylvester, "De Kooning's Women," Sunday Times Magazine, 8 December 1968, p. 57).
In many of de Kooning’s works from this pivotal period the paint’s physicality and the way in which it has been applied (the color, the gestural sweeps and the play of this tactile infinitely pliable medium) powerfully evokes the artist’s own sensual and sexually-charged response to women. However, the more sensual nature of this particular example marks a somewhat softer depiction of a woman than some of his more high-octane representations. Unlike his earlier Picasso-esque grotesque representations of women from the 1950s, the abundance of soft , pink tones in Pink Woman Torso is prompted not so much by fear, but more a wry and benevolent sense of warmth and affection.
This highly painterly rendition of a naked woman is comprised of rich layers of de Kooning’s signature vigorous brushwork, evident in the individual swathes of thick pigment that sweep across the surface of the work. Pink Woman Torso was painted during a prolific period in the artist’s career as the previous year he had begun a new series of his Women paintings centered, in part, on the image of the modern American women that was being forged by the social and political movements of the 1960s. Looking at images taken from popular culture, de Kooning created works that were assemblages of scrawled, smeared, splashed and daubed marks combined with precise and caustic illustrative motifs. The female figure emerges from the tumultuous surface of the canvas as if born from the sensual energy of de Kooning's gestural brushwork. "Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented", de Kooning famously once remarked, but in fact, these works grew out of an extended period of innovation in which that artist had deliberately attempted to subvert his prodigious gifts as a draughtsman in favour of newer, unconsciously made, but more vital marks. (W. de Kooning quoted in Willem de Kooning Drawings Paintings Sculptures, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1983, p. 115). One of the pioneers of Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning’s celebrated depictions of women are among the most significant works of his career.
Central to de Kooning’s work was the deconstruction of the form to a level bordering on abstraction yet still hovering within the confines of the figural. Built up from rapid strokes of the artist’s brush, the contours of the female form—distinct outline of hips and breasts—materialize to create a torso placed squarely on two sturdy legs. A quick flourish suggests rudimentary facial features (eyes, hair and lips), yet just as the form begins to emerge from the chaos of the lines, it seems to break down. It is due to this concurrent state of reconstruction and deconstruction of the body, eroticism versus monstrosity as well as the eerie assemblages of body parts that de Kooning achieves an ambiguity that not only challenged notions of femininity but also became the cornerstone of his artistic output.
In 1963, de Kooning left New York City for the pastoral environs of East Hampton and the dramatic change in scenery proved to be a catalyst for a shift in the artist's work. In his new surroundings, de Kooning found himself deeply moved by nature and began to incorporate it into his work by means of a series of paintings representing female figures in landscapes. In these works, de Kooning returned to the subject responsible for his initial fame: the woman. However, instead of the aggressive, maniacal-looking women of the 1950's, this new group of women were an altogether more jubilant group. As art historian Thomas Hess writes, "de Kooning's pictures of the 1960s are drained of the anguish and look of despair which had so profoundly marked his earlier work. In the new Woman, the mood is Joy" (T. Hess, de Kooning: Recent Paintings, New York, 1968 p. 43).
De Kooning’s Woman paintings are among some of the most famous depictions of the female form in all of art history. They were the result of his continuing exploration of the competing tenets of abstraction and figuration during which time he produced an abundant vocabulary of shapes and images derived from the contemplation of the figure. Although he was hailed as a founding father of Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning was never able to completely abandon the figure. In an interview, the artist once commented, "It is really absurd to make an image, like a human image. But then all of a sudden it becomes even more absurd not to do it" (W. de Kooning, quoted in D. Sylvester, "De Kooning's Women," Sunday Times Magazine, 8 December 1968, p. 57).
In many of de Kooning’s works from this pivotal period the paint’s physicality and the way in which it has been applied (the color, the gestural sweeps and the play of this tactile infinitely pliable medium) powerfully evokes the artist’s own sensual and sexually-charged response to women. However, the more sensual nature of this particular example marks a somewhat softer depiction of a woman than some of his more high-octane representations. Unlike his earlier Picasso-esque grotesque representations of women from the 1950s, the abundance of soft , pink tones in Pink Woman Torso is prompted not so much by fear, but more a wry and benevolent sense of warmth and affection.