Lot 154
  • 154

Willem de Kooning

Estimate
500,000 - 700,000 USD
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Description

  • Willem de Kooning
  • Untitled (Woman)
  • signed
  • oil on paper mounted on canvas
  • 18 1/4 by 14 1/4 in. 46.4 by 36.2 cm.
  • Executed in 1965.

Provenance

Paul Kantor, Beverly Hills
Galerie Berggruen & Cie, Paris
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1969

Exhibited

University of Santa Barbara, Art Galleries, Five American Painters: Recent Works by de Kooning, Mitchell, Motherwell, Resnick, Tworkov, January - February 1974, cat. no. 2, p. 8, illustrated

Condition

This work is in excellent condition. There are no apparent condition problems with this work. The paint layer is sound and the surface is generally clean. There is no evidence of restoration visible under ultra-violet inspection. Framed in a wood frame with a gilt face.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

As one of the pioneers of the Abstract Expressionist movement and a giant amongst twentieth-century painters, Willem de Kooning's work can be seen as a demonstrative compendium of nearly seventy years of artistic production that bridges the gap between the Apollonian reserve of Arshile Gorky to the Dionysian abandon of Jackson Pollock.

The present work, Untitled (Woman),1965, is an illuminative painting that displays a wonderful synthesis of two commanding themes that dominated de Kooning's artistic enterprise: that of the landscape with the female figure. During this period, in the mid 1960's, this was a subject he would deliberate upon in a number of paintings and drawings. Here powerful architectonic elements build up the pictorial field, the product of an energetic proliferation of stroke, form and plane.  There is joy, playfulness and ribaldry evident on this surface, voiced in the work's bold brushwork and bright colors. Indeed, as Henry Geldzahler wrote of de Kooning's work, here we see a surface "... packed with shapes, allusions, actions and counteractions, they pile ambiguity on ambiguity; sometimes, it would seem, they are painted at lightning speed, at others in a more relaxed contour-loving gesture." (Exh. Cat., New York, Gagosian Gallery, Willem de Kooning: Abstract Landscapes, 1955-1963, 1987, n.p.)

The artist's assertive brushwork and proverbial coloration are evinced in the present Untitled (Woman),1965. The surface dances with swathes of yellows, emerald greens, cherry red. This cacophany of pigmentation is elegantly orchestrated so as to clearly define the artist's sweeping strokes of his brush. The fleshier section that characterize the figure evince legs thrust downward towards the lower right corner, and each urgent brushstroke conveys the momentum of this figure running through a vortex of colors.