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A nice and chunky biography about one of the greatest modern painters. I loved reading about all his idiosyncrasies and the strange way he said certain things. Willem certainly led an interesting life.
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De Kooning: An American Master
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Willem de Kooning is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, a true “painter’s painter” whose protean work continues to inspire many artists. In the thirties and forties, along with Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock, he became a key figure in the revolutionary American movement of abstract expressionism. Of all the painters in that group, he worked the longest and was the most prolific, creating powerful, startling images well into the 1980s.
The first major biography of de Kooning captures both the life and work of this complex, romantic figure in American culture. Ten years in the making, and based on previously unseen letters and documents as well as on hundreds of interviews, this is a fresh, richly detailed, and masterful portrait. The young de Kooning overcame an unstable, impoverished, and often violent early family life to enter the Academie in Rotterdam, where he learned both classic art and guild techniques. Arriving in New York as a stowaway from Holland in 1926, he underwent a long struggle to become a painter and an American, developing a passionate friendship with his fellow immigrant Arshile Gorky, who was both a mentor and an inspiration. During the Depression, de Kooning emerged as a central figure in the bohemian world of downtown New York, surviving by doing commercial work and painting murals for the WPA. His first show at the Egan Gallery in 1948 was a revelation. Soon, the critics Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess were championing his work, and de Kooning took his place as the charismatic leader of the New York school—just as American art began to dominate the international scene.
Dashingly handsome and treated like a movie star on the streets of downtown New York, de Kooning had a tumultuous marriage to Elaine de Kooning, herself a fascinating character of the period. At the height of his fame, he spent his days painting powerful abstractions and intense, disturbing pictures of the female figure—and his nights living on the edge, drinking, womanizing, and talking at the Cedar bar with such friends as Franz Kline and Frank O’Hara. By the 1960s, exhausted by the feverish art world, he retreated to the Springs on Long Island, where he painted an extraordinary series of lush pastorals. In the 1980s, as he slowly declined into what was almost certainly Alzheimer’s, he created a vast body of haunting and ethereal late work.
This is an authoritative and brilliant exploration of the art, life, and world of an American master.
The first major biography of de Kooning captures both the life and work of this complex, romantic figure in American culture. Ten years in the making, and based on previously unseen letters and documents as well as on hundreds of interviews, this is a fresh, richly detailed, and masterful portrait. The young de Kooning overcame an unstable, impoverished, and often violent early family life to enter the Academie in Rotterdam, where he learned both classic art and guild techniques. Arriving in New York as a stowaway from Holland in 1926, he underwent a long struggle to become a painter and an American, developing a passionate friendship with his fellow immigrant Arshile Gorky, who was both a mentor and an inspiration. During the Depression, de Kooning emerged as a central figure in the bohemian world of downtown New York, surviving by doing commercial work and painting murals for the WPA. His first show at the Egan Gallery in 1948 was a revelation. Soon, the critics Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess were championing his work, and de Kooning took his place as the charismatic leader of the New York school—just as American art began to dominate the international scene.
Dashingly handsome and treated like a movie star on the streets of downtown New York, de Kooning had a tumultuous marriage to Elaine de Kooning, herself a fascinating character of the period. At the height of his fame, he spent his days painting powerful abstractions and intense, disturbing pictures of the female figure—and his nights living on the edge, drinking, womanizing, and talking at the Cedar bar with such friends as Franz Kline and Frank O’Hara. By the 1960s, exhausted by the feverish art world, he retreated to the Springs on Long Island, where he painted an extraordinary series of lush pastorals. In the 1980s, as he slowly declined into what was almost certainly Alzheimer’s, he created a vast body of haunting and ethereal late work.
This is an authoritative and brilliant exploration of the art, life, and world of an American master.
732 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,2004
This edition
- Format
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732 pages, Paperback
- Published
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April 13, 2006 by Alfred A. Knopf
- ISBN
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9780375711169
- ASIN
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0375711163
- Language
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English
About the author
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Mark Stevens is an award-winning commercial writer, author and blogger (http://www.houseof8balls.com).
His work has appeared on television and radio, in newspapers and magazines, online, on billboards and bookshelves.
His first e-book SHORTSTUFF 1 is a collection of 8 tall stories done short, that are equal parts silly, weird, absurd, funny and far fetched.
He lives with his wife and 3 children in a yurt on a vast plain in Mongolia.
He doesn't really. He lives in a house in Australia. With heating.
His work has appeared on television and radio, in newspapers and magazines, online, on billboards and bookshelves.
His first e-book SHORTSTUFF 1 is a collection of 8 tall stories done short, that are equal parts silly, weird, absurd, funny and far fetched.
He lives with his wife and 3 children in a yurt on a vast plain in Mongolia.
He doesn't really. He lives in a house in Australia. With heating.
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One of the best biographies I've ever read. Interesting for anyone who is fascinated, like me, by the music, art, and culture of NYC in the 1940s-1950s.
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I had to finally give up about 200 pages in. While the book is exceptionally well-researched I found the references to de Kooning's immigrant status near-constant, often irrelevant, and totally gratuitous. It was also used to interpret his paintings in ways that felt like a real leap. What ALSO felt gratuitous to me was the near-obsessive documentation of his romantic history and the Daily Mail-meets-Dr. Freud judgments of it that I also did not care about.
I picked up this book because I wanted to figure out what all the fuss was about regarding de Kooning's ACTUAL PAINTINGS. 200 pages in, there are only a few paragraphs about this topic! That's insane. I don't care who he slept with or how American he did or did not seem to the authors at various points of his life. I want to know why I'm supposed to be impressed by his art, why he is an American Master, as the authors say in the book's title.
If there is a book out there about the actual paintings by this man and their maturation over time, please point me in that direction!
I picked up this book because I wanted to figure out what all the fuss was about regarding de Kooning's ACTUAL PAINTINGS. 200 pages in, there are only a few paragraphs about this topic! That's insane. I don't care who he slept with or how American he did or did not seem to the authors at various points of his life. I want to know why I'm supposed to be impressed by his art, why he is an American Master, as the authors say in the book's title.
If there is a book out there about the actual paintings by this man and their maturation over time, please point me in that direction!
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This book redefined my life. I love every word. When I finished, I just wanted to start right back at page one. That has never happened before.
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An absolutely riveting biography.
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Before I read this book, I rarely read straight-up biographies. I think the last one I read was a bio of Sylvia Plath I waded though in the tenth grade for an essay I was writing on her (oh yes, I was so tortured). I still recall bits and pieces from that bio, but I didn't crave all things biography after I'd finished. I think I went to track practice and forgot about it.
This book has singlehandedly renewed my faith in the biography. I have never been in love with de Kooning's paintings, but I can't resist hundreds of pages of details about this nutty man and his exploits. Oh yeah, and art criticism that isn't boring and actually made me appreciate the paintings more fully. It also helped that de Kooning hob-nobbed with all these drunk modern artists and the bio has detailed accounts of all the people he spent time with, was inspired by, and ahem, had relations with. Did I mention that de Kooning had lots and lots of sexy lady friends, too? Well, he did. Later in life, de Kooning gets dementia, but keeps on painting. It's really interesting to see how his work changes and what remains the same throughout his life, especially when the ravaging effects of his wild lifestyle begin to take hold.
This was a really engrossing and inspiring read. Like VH1's Behind the Music meets MOMA. I have yet to find another biography that hits the mark as this one does.
This book has singlehandedly renewed my faith in the biography. I have never been in love with de Kooning's paintings, but I can't resist hundreds of pages of details about this nutty man and his exploits. Oh yeah, and art criticism that isn't boring and actually made me appreciate the paintings more fully. It also helped that de Kooning hob-nobbed with all these drunk modern artists and the bio has detailed accounts of all the people he spent time with, was inspired by, and ahem, had relations with. Did I mention that de Kooning had lots and lots of sexy lady friends, too? Well, he did. Later in life, de Kooning gets dementia, but keeps on painting. It's really interesting to see how his work changes and what remains the same throughout his life, especially when the ravaging effects of his wild lifestyle begin to take hold.
This was a really engrossing and inspiring read. Like VH1's Behind the Music meets MOMA. I have yet to find another biography that hits the mark as this one does.
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I chose this book to read during my summer travels - and almost regretted it due to its sheer mass. That said, I found the book to be highly readable and thought it provided great insight into de Kooning's life, his art and the New York art scene at the mid-century mark.
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If you can, read this book with a complimentary book of all his art work. That way when they talk about a painting and moment in his life, you can view that moment--The words describing the artistic moment aren't enough. You want to see what they're talking about and this book doesn't have enough photos of paintings to do that. Hey, I think I'm going to do that with other artists--two books. one a biography, the other all his paintings. Double hey hey. You could do that with music--a bio on the band and all there music on You Tube or Spotify.
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