Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) was one of the torchbearers of post-war American abstraction and one of the most important artists of the 20th century.
With a career spanning nearly seven decades, his oeuvre is marked by extensive exploration and stylistic experimentation. While his contemporaries focused on non-representational art, de Kooning's compositions were not quite categorically abstract.
This untitled composition displays key characteristics of his hybrid aesthetic. Featuring brushy, frenetic colours applied against a lighter, similarly layered background, the work acts as a study of the ways in which the colours and textures interact to balance the composition. The viewer is rewarded the longer they spend with the work, as it unveils subtle details and shifts.
Some of the lines and shapes evoke elements or poses that approach figuration -- this ambiguous hinting at the presence of a figure is a recurring motif through de Kooning's oeuvre, and acts to heighten the emotional intensity throughout his compositions.
Prints are not very common in de Kooning's body of work, and the works that he did publish were often black. As such, this untitled screenprint is somewhat of a rarity, and would make a unique addition to any collection.
In 2018, de Kooning achieved an auction record of $68 million for his 1955 painting "Women as a Landscape." Today, his work can be found in every major public collection around the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Arts Tokyo, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Questions about this piece? Contact us, call +1.416.704.1720, or visit our Toronto gallery.
Untitled
USA, 1972
Screenprint in colors on Arches wove paper
Signed "de Kooning" and numbered "63/75" in pencil, lower margin, with the blindstamp of the printer, Ives-Sillman
Published by Yale University Press
24"H 35.75"W (sheet)
36.5"H 47.75"W (framed)
Overall good condition
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