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Usually, I’ll skip a 700+
page book. However, the cover photograph of the
new biography of Willem de Kooning was too much to resist; it took hold of
me
and I hefted the book home and have been engaged ever since. De
Kooning's
handsome and daring look, his solid features capped by a thick head of hair,
his
strong arms and larger-than-life hands, are indicative of his strength as an
artist. He's an American artist, innovative, yet grounded in
tradition and,
above all else, determined to invent rather than imitate, creating art his
way.
More than ten years in the making, Swan and Stevens conducted hundreds of
interviews and had access to new documents and materials not available to
previous critics and biographers. They have produced a book that focuses on
the
development of de Kooning first as an artist, then as an American (he was a
stowaway on a boat from Rotterdam in the 1920s), and finally, as a man. The
result is a portrait of an artist against the backdrop of the American art
scene
of the entire 20th century. Unlike his short-lived contemporaries
Jackson
Pollack and Arshile Gorky, de Kooning lived a long life and produced art for
over fifty years. From the effervescent “downtown” art scene of the
1940s and
1950s to a retreat on Long Island in later years, the authors paint a
portrait
of a man who was consumed with ideas and submerged in making art. Their
descriptions of the struggle of an artist creating something new while
reconciling all that had gone before are amazing, illustrating the genius
that
went into such groundbreaking works as Excavation in 1950 and
Woman I
in 1950-52.
If abstract art in general, or the abstract expressionist movement in
particular, has ever been curious or confusing to you, read this book.
You will
be amazed at the American moxie of the “downtown art crowd” of the post-war
years; the WPA will make sense; and names like Leo Castelli, Joop Sanders,
Peggy
Guggenheim with her “Art of the Century,” and Chaim Soutine will slip off
your
tongue as quick as you can say “I don’t know much about art, but I know what
I
like.” I can guarantee that you will like this book!
Review by Sarah Bagby, December 9, 2004
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