I love Pollock he was huge and American and modern and everything America wanted to be at the time but personally I prefer de Kooning. I think his abstract paintings were more modern and more forward thinking, maybe not as arresting but subtly magestic and who knows if his name wasn't so European he might have been much bigger like his drinking buddy Jackson.

I didn't read this one front to back but read as a series of episodes from the artist's life, it was fairly interesting. Still a bit dramatic in the traditional romantic notion of the artist, the writing itself is fine but not very interesting.

A very well-written, if at times overly adulatory, biography of the artist Willem de Kooning. It draws upon first-hand accounts and sources, and is very complete in most respects. However, the depiction of the artist’s wife, Elaine, is unflattering, and seems to fall short of a more honest appraisal of her abilities and importance as an artist. She is generally given short shrift, and is brushed off as something of an annoyance, which does not do her justice, either as an artist or as his wife. Despite her absence for long stretches, she always returned to him, and they were clearly drawn to each other, regardless of affairs or differences.

I was also surprised to note that the authors made no mention of the important Abstract Expressionist artist Grace Hartigan, who knew and was influenced by de Kooning. Reading about her life and work in the extraordinary not-yet-published book Ninth Street Women, by Mary Gabriel, there is a noteworthy description of her meeting de Kooning early on in her career and development as an artist in their shared territory of lower Manhattan. Yet his biographers did not see fit to include this significant exchange, nor even make reference to Hartigan.

In fact, most of the women in this biography are depicted as entering and leaving de Kooning’s life as if through a revolving door, with only slight mention of their professional work and impact, despite the fact that many of them were part of the artistic community in which de Kooning lived and worked for the entirety of his adult life. His professional world is depicted as largely male-dominated, which may have been true in the 60s and 70s, but was emphatically not the case in the 40s and 50s, when the burgeoning Abstract-Expressionist community of artists in New York was filled with and often led by a significant number of vibrant and active women, among them his own wife.

This biography contains many interesting anecdotes, and includes analyses of a good sampling of de Kooning’s work covering most of his major stylistic periods. It proceeds chronologically, and covers a great deal of territory, especially concerning de Kooning’s upbringing and early education in Holland. There are many valuable firsthand accounts included here, from friends and family, fellow artists and assistants, and observers of the NYC art world. An immense and impressive amount of work was required to bring all of these many threads together - successfully - into one coherent work. I only wish that some of those threads were not cut short or left out in places, to the detriment of our fuller understanding of the world in which de Kooning lived.

This book is a masterpiece! I loved every word of it and learned all about the NYC art world in the 1930s 40s, and 50s, after De Kooning escaped his shoe-throwing mom in Rotterdam and came to the U. S. as a stowaway in a freighter. I loved how the American artists (not yet famous) used to drop in at each other's studios. They were all fascinated by and jealous of that Spanish artist, Picasso, and memorized all his works at his NY gallery shows. De Kooning, who eventually became an master American painter, was inspired by everything that makes this book great: cubism, surrealism, jazz, and film noir.

Incredible bio on deKooning. Was never much of a fan until I read this (and met the authors, as well!). I need to re-read it!

I should probably rate this one higher. Enjoyed “Bacon” so much I followed Stevens and Swan to “de Kooning” and was once again treated to a combination good biography and modern art history education. Unlike Bacon, de Kooning was steadfastly, comically hetero. Socially, financially, the difference in their stations in life could hardly be greater. When Bacon went thru his “poor” period he still vacationed in southern France and lost stacks of money in Monte Carlo. While de Kooning was in his “poor” period he once walked 40 blocks because he didn’t have bus fare. He also,for the most part, didn’t have enough to eat. Bacon came from a wealthy family, de Kooning a poor one. There’s a considerable difference between rich person poor and poor person poor. As stated, de Kooning’s relations with women border on the comical, not to say exploitive. And, you’ve got to admire his wife conducting “affairs” with two of New York’s most important critics in order to further de Kooning’s career. She hitched herself to his star early and never lost the faith, bless her. A constant woman, in her way.

I added this book because its one of my favorites. Gossipy and scholarly, a great bio of an artist and fascinating account of the New York art scene from the 30s through the 80s. Well researched and a page turner.

This is a quick and easy read, which suprised me. If nothing else, worth reading the first quarter if you want a really great idea of what New York was like during the Depression/WW2. (Hint: the Surrealists were assholes. How 'bout it.)

With a current culture that seems to distrust intellectuals and ideas, this book makes you want to form your own group of brainiact daredevils and talk about important $#$%**. Great book about ideas and pushing boundaries, if not a touch too supportive the stereotypical tortured artist...even if he did die drunk, disheveled and abused. It will make you love the art too.

This is a terrifically written book about one of 20th Century America's most important abstract expressionist artists. Stevens and Swan, the authors, examine the man and the art in equal measure. Their treatment is loving but not fawning. They see De Kooning, a Dutch immigrant, as a flawed but dedicated artist. They range into his obsessions, his accomplishments, his relationships. They treat his womanizing and his alcoholism -- and their relation to De Kooning's art. They appreciate his full frail humanity.

If you're looking for a lively biography and background on modern art, this is it.

Reading this was a labor of love. It was very long, a time consuming project of sorts. I am so glad that I decided to commit and under take it! If you are at all interested and/or know about abstract expressionism, you will find this book fascinating and completely enlightening. I really did not know very much about de Kooning beyond the "Women" series....I now feel like I know not only his work, but also him, personally. VERY well written and easy to read, despite the detail and lenghth.

I know this book got great reviews, and I hate to be the sand in the works, but I found it to be kind of creaky. The biographical information was presented in a fairly straightforward way ... interesting, but the writing was only on the level of good journalism. Each chapter concludes with a discussion of one of DeKooning's major works from the period covered. These I found painful, the worst kind of foggy, bum-kissing artspeak. (That's just my opinion; lots of people disagreed.) The one thing that came across clearly, and impressed me tremendously, was how dedicated DeKooning was to his work. He made a lot of bad decisions in his life, indulged in self-destructive and hurtful behavior, but he never stopped painting. And he was one hell of a painter.