For its vivid painterly coloration, fractured forms, and assertive mastery of line, Two Figures from circa 1946-47 crackles with a potent electricity that stands amongst the very best of Willem de Kooning’s extraordinary output. Tumbling, tussling, and tangling in a passionate embrace, the figures radiate a vital intensity that is equally sexual and violent, graceful and unsettling. Bursting forth from the intimate format of the paper, the small scale belies the energetic vigor of de Kooning’s action, his urgent charcoal lines and searing palette condensed into a gem-like composition that bespeaks the full brilliance of his draftsmanship.
Willem de Kooning’s Two Figures will be offered in Sotheby’s Mo Ostin Collection Evening Auction on 16 May at Sotheby’s New York as a part of the New York Sales presented in partnership with CELINE.
