This document provides an overview of Abstract Expressionism, a style of painting that emerged in New York City after World War II. It discusses the major artists of the movement, including Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, and Newman. Abstract Expressionist paintings were abstract in style but the artists felt the subject and content were still important. The paintings aimed to express the psychological trauma of events like the Depression, World Wars, and Holocaust. Artists turned inward and explored the unconscious through archetypes and Jungian symbolism during the formative 1940s period. By the late 1940s, Abstract Expressionism had developed into gestural, action-based paintings and color field works that expressed the feelings of a post-war world in

1. Abstract
Expressionism
Art
109A:
Contemporary
Art
Westchester
Community
College
Fall
2012
Dr.
Melissa
Hall

2. Abstract
Expressionism
Style
of
painDng
that
emerged
in
New
York
aJer
World
War
II
Nina
Leen,
The
Irascibles,
1950
LIFE
Magazine

3. GoVlieb
SDll
De
Kooning
Motherwell
Abstract
Expressionism
Major
arDsts
include:
Pollock
Newman
1. Jackson
Pollock
2. Willem
de
Kooning
3. Adolph
GoVlieb
4. Mark
Rothko
Rothko
5. Barnet
Newman
6. Clifford
SDll
7. David
Smith
Nina
Leen,
The
Irascibles,
1950
LIFE
Magazine

4. Abstract
Expressionism
PainDngs
are
abstract,
and
large
in
scale
But
subject
maVer
and
content
remained
paramount
“There
is
no
such
thing
as
a
good
painDng
about
nothing.
We
assert
that
the
subject
is
criDcal.”
Mark
Rothko
+
Adolph
GoVlieb,
1943
Jackson
Pollock,
Autumn
Rhythm,
in
the
Metropolitan
Museum

5. Abstract
Expressionism
Two
kinds
of
Abstract
Expressionism
1. AcDon
PainDng
or
Gestural
AbstracDon:
painDngs
that
employ
sweeping
strokes
that
suggest
the
physical
acDon
or
gesture
that
made
them
2. Color
Field
or
ChromaDc
AbstracDon:
broad
areas
of
atmospheric
color
Jackson
Pollock,
No.
3,
1949:
Tiger,
1949
Mark
Rothko,
Green
and
Maroon,
1953
Hirshhorn
Museum
Phillips
CollecDon

6. Psychological
Trauma
• Great
Depression
• Rise
of
Fascism
and
collapse
of
the
Popular
Front
• Holocaust
• Hiroshima
The
mushroom
cloud
over
the
bombing
of
Nagasaki,
August
19,
1945
Wikimedia

7. Psychological
Trauma
“We
felt
the
moral
crisis
of
a
world
in
shambles,
a
world
devastated
by
a
great
depression
and
a
fierce
World
War,
and
it
was
impossible
to
paint
the
kind
of
painDng
that
we
were
doing
–
flowers,
reclining
nudes,
and
people
playing
the
cello.
At
the
same
Dme
we
could
not
move
into
the
situaDon
of
a
pure
world
of
unorganized
shapes
and
forms,
or
color
relaDons,
a
world
of
sensaDons.
And
I
would
say
for
some
of
us,
this
was
our
moral
crisis
in
relaDon
to
what
to
paint.”
BarneV
Newman
Jackson
Pollock
in
front
of
a
blank
canvas

8. Making
Choices
Abandoned
the
styles
prevalent
before
the
war
Ben
Shahn,
The
Passion
of
Sacco
and
George
L.
K.
Morris,
Nau>cal
Composi>on
1937-­‐42
VanzeG,
1932-­‐32
Whitney
Museum
Whitney
Museum

9. Making
Choices
Turned
inward,
seeking
psychological
or
inner
explanaDons
for
historical
events
Jackson
Pollock,
War,
1947
Metropolitan
Museum

10. Forma<ve
Years
(1940s)
Archaic
symbol
and
myth
Mark
Rothko,
An>gone,
c.
1941
NaDonal
Gallery
of
Art
Adolph
GoVlieb,
Oedipus,
1941

11. Forma<ve
Years
(1940s)
“If
we
profess
kinship
to
the
art
of
primiDve
man,
it
is
because
the
feelings
they
[sic]
expressed
have
a
parDcular
perDnence
today.
In
Dmes
of
violence,
personal
predilecDons
for
the
niceDes
of
color
and
form
seem
irrelevant.
All
primiDve
expression
reveals
the
constant
awareness
of
powerful
forces,
the
immediate
presence
of
terror
and
fear,
recogniDon
of
the
brutality
of
the
natural
world
as
well
as
the
eternal
insecuriDes
of
life.
That
these
feelings
are
being
experienced
by
many
people
throughout
the
world
today
is
an
unfortunate
fact
and
to
us
an
art
that
glosses
over
and
evades
these
feelings
is
superficial
and
meaningless.
That
is
why
we
insist
on
subject
maVer,
a
subject
maVer
that
embraces
these
feelings
and
permits
them
to
be
expressed.”
Adolph
GoVlieb
and
Mark
Rothko
Adolph
GoVlieb,
Pictograph,
1942
Art
Ins>tute
of
Chicago

12. Forma<ve
Years
(1940s)
Jungian
archetypes:
archaic
symbols
that
are
shared
by
all
cultures
and
expressed
in
myths,
dreams,
and
fantasy
“
.
.
.
they
are
the
eternal
symbols
upon
which
we
must
fall
back
to
express
basic
psychological
ideas.”
Mark
Rothko
“Without
monsters
and
gods,
art
cannot
enact
our
drama
.
.
.
.”
Mark
Rothko
Jackson
Pollock,
Male
and
Female,
1942
Philadelphia
Museum
of
Art

13. FormaDve
Years
(1940s)
Jungian
theory
proposes
that
the
individual
psyche
is
a
reservoir
for
the
collecDve
unconscious
“The
present
painter
is
concerned
not
with
his
own
feelings
or
with
the
mystery
of
his
own
personality
but
with
the
penetraDon
into
the
world
mystery.
His
imaginaDon
is
therefore
aVempDng
to
dig
into
metaphysical
secrets.”
BarneV
Newman,
“ The
Plasmic
Image”
“[In
their
work]
the
personal
and
social
converge”
Irving
Sandler

14. The
Turning
Point
”We
now
know
the
terror
to
expect.
Hiroshima
showed
it
to
us
.
.
.
.”
BarneV
Newman
The
mushroom
cloud
over
the
bombing
of
Nagasaki,
August
19,
1945
Wikimedia

15. The
neurosis
which
is
our
reality
“The
looming
mushroom
cloud
became
the
defining
image
of
the
period
.
.
.
.This
gave
rise
to
what
GoVlieb
termed
‘the
neurosis
which
is
our
reality.’”
Irving
Sandler
Between
1946
and
1958,
twenty-­‐three
nuclear
devices
were
detonated
at
Bikini
Atoll,
beginning
with
the
OperaDon
Crossroads
series
in
July
1946

16. Turning
Inward
New
York
School
arDsts
abandoned
mythic
subjects,
and
opted
for
a
more
direct
means
of
expressing
their
inner
sense
of
anxiety
“The
Abstract
Expressionists
did
not
illustrate
the
hot
or
cold
wars.
Instead,
they
internalized
the
poliDcal
and
social
situaDon
and
asserted
that
their
painDng
was
essenDally
a
subjecDve
or
inward-­‐
looking
process.
What
they
ended
up
expressing
was
the
tragic
mood
as
they
felt
it
of
the
decade
–
an
embodied
mood.”
Irving
Sandler

17. Turning
Inward
“Every
so
oJen,
a
painter
has
to
destroy
painDng.
Cézanne
did
it,
Picasso
did
it
with
Cubism.
Then
Pollock
did
it.
He
busted
our
idea
of
a
picture
all
to
hell.
Then
there
could
be
new
painDngs
again.”
Willem
De
Kooning,
1956
Rudy
Burckhardt
de
Kooning
New
York
City
1950
Image
source:
hVp://artcriDcal.com/2004/12/15/de-­‐kooning-­‐an-­‐american-­‐master-­‐
by-­‐mark-­‐stevens-­‐annalyn-­‐swan/

18. Jackson
Pollock
Born
in
Cody
Wyoming
Studied
with
Thomas
Hart
Benton
Thomas
Hart
Benton,
The
Ballad
of
the
Jealous
Lover
of
Lone
Green
Valley,
1934
Spencer
Museum
of
Art

19. Jackson
Pollock
Work
in
the
1930s
influenced
by
Benton
and
the
American
visionary
painter
Albert
Pinkham
Ryder
Jackson
Pollock,
Going
West,
1934-­‐35
NaDonal
Museum
of
American
Art,
Smithsonian
InsDtuDon

20. Jackson
Pollock
Work
in
the
1940s
influenced
by
Miró
Joan
Miró,
Woman
and
LiRle
Girl
in
Front
of
the
Sun,
1946
Hirshhorn
Museum
Jackson
Pollock,
Moon
Woman,
1942

21. Jackson
Pollock
And
by
Picasso
Jackson
Pollock,
Orange
Head,
1938-­‐1942

22. Jackson
Pollock
At
26
suffered
a
breakdown
and
went
into
Jungian
therapy
Jackson
Pollock,
Drawing,
1939

23. Jackson
Pollock
Interest
in
Psychology
aVracted
him
to
the
Surrealist
technique
of
automaDsm
“My
opinion
is
that
new
needs
need
new
techniques
.
.
.
.
It
seems
to
me
that
the
modern
painter
cannot
express
this
age,
the
airplane,
the
atom
bomb,
the
radio,
in
the
old
forms
of
the
Renaissance
or
of
any
other
past
culture
.
.
.
.
The
modern
arDst,
it
seems
to
me,
is
working
and
expressing
an
inner
world
-­‐-­‐
in
other
words
-­‐-­‐
expressing
the
energy,
the
moDon,
and
other
inner
forces.”
Jackson
Pollock
Jackson
Pollock,
Sheet
of
Studies,
c.
1939-­‐42
Museum
of
Modern
Art

24. Jackson
Pollock
Series
of
works
in
the
1940s
combine
automaDst
technique
with
archaic
myth
and
symbol
Pablo
Picasso,
Painter
and
Model,
1928
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Jackson
Pollock,
Male
and
Female,
1942
Philadelphia
Museum

25. Jackson
Pollock,
She-­‐Wolf,
1943
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Soundclip:
hVp://www.moma.org/explore/mulDmedia/audios/3/70

26. Jackson
Pollock,
Pasiphaê,
1943
Metropolitan
Museum
of
Art

27. “There
have
been
innumerable
aVempts
to
decode
these
early
Pollock
images
in
terms
of
specific
reference
and
literal
encoded
meanings,
but
almost
certainly
the
works
were
primarily
intended
to
Jackson
Pollock,
Guardians
of
the
Secret,
1943
SanFrancisco
Museum
of
Modern
Art
appear
meaningful
while
not
knowable”
Kirk
Varnedoe

28. Transi<on
Commission
for
Peggy
Guggenheim
Mural
scale
Abstract
rhythmic
gestures
replace
totemic
images
Jackson
Pollock,
Mural,
1943
University
of
Iowa
Art
Museum

29. Jackson
Pollock,
Mural,
1943
University
of
Iowa
Art
Museum
“The
modern
arDst
is
.
.
.
expressing
his
feelings
rather
than
illustraDng.”
Jackson
Pollock

30. Jackson
Pollock,
Gothic,
1944
Jackson
Pollock,
Eyes
in
the
Heat,
1946
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Guggenheim

31. All
Over
Style
No
posiDve/
negaDve
space
or
focal
point
Destroys
illusion
“I
try
to
stay
away
from
any
recognizable
imagery.
.
.
if
it
creeps
in,
I
try
to
do
away
with
it
.
.
.
To
let
the
painDng
come
through.
I
don’t
let
the
imagery
carry
the
painDng
.
.
.
It’s
extra
cargo
and
unnecessary”
Jackson
Pollock
Jackson
Pollock,
Shimmering
Substance,
1946
Museum
of
Modern
Art

32. Jackson
Pollock,
Shimmering
Substance,
1946
Jackson
Pollock,
Eyes
in
the
Heat,
1946
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Guggenheim

33. All
Over
Style
“In
Shimmering
Substance
the
commas
of
color
in
the
center
of
the
canvas
are
placed
on
a
dazzling
surface
created
by
a
grid
of
thick
white
strokes
and
form
a
luminous
yellow
circle,
a
center
of
energy
that
can
be
understood
as
a
sun.
The
effect
recorded
by
Pollock
is
one
of
bedazzlement,
such
as
can
be
caused
by
staring
too
long
at
the
sun
.
.
.
.
The
shredding
of
objects
and
forms
by
light
is
more
complete
and
radical
than
anything
accomplished
by
the
Impressionists.
”
Serge
Guilbaut,
How
New
York
Stole
the
Idea
of
Modern
Art
Jackson
Pollock,
Shimmering
Substance,
1946
Museum
of
Modern
Art

34. All
Over
Style
“Things
disintegrate
not
only
on
the
surface,
but
also
in
their
very
essence,
owing
to
a
deeply
searing
quality
of
the
light.
What
Pollock
depicts
is
a
source
of
energy
that
is
not
merely
powerful
but
also
destrucDve.
What
is
shown,
in
short,
is
not
the
sun
but
its
equivalent,
the
atomic
bomb,
transformed
into
myth.”
Serge
Guilbaut,
How
New
York
Stole
the
Idea
of
Modern
Art
Jackson
Pollock,
Shimmering
Substance,
1946
Museum
of
Modern
Art

35. Jackson
Pollock
1947
Pollock
discovered
his
“drip
technique”
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

36. The
Drip
Pain<ngs
Influenced
by
experimental
techniques
of
Mexican
muralist
David
Siquieros
New
York
Studio
of
Mexican
Muralist
David
Siquieros

37. Jackson
Pollock
Also
influenced
by
Indian
sand
painters
and
Jazz
“Sand
pain>ngs,
as
created
by
Navajo
Indians,
were
not
made
to
be
an
"art
object,"
but
rather
were
made
as
part
of
an
elaborate
healing
ritual
or
ceremony.
The
ar>st,
or
in
the
Navajo
context,
the
medicine
man,
would
use
naturally
colored
grains
of
sand,
and
pour
them
by
hand
to
create
these
elaborate
"pain>ngs."
Once
completed,
the
person
that
needed
healing
was
asked
to
sit
on
top
of
the
sand
pain>ng,
which
was
supposed
to
act
as
a
portal
so
that
the
healing
spirits
could
come
through
the
pain>ng
and
heal
the
pa>ent.
Once
the
healing
ceremony
was
over,
then
the
pain>ng
was
believed
to
have
removed
the
illness
from
the
pa>ent,
and
therefore
had
the
illness
contained
within
it,
so
at
that
point
the
pain>ng
was
destroyed.”
hVp://www.artsology.com/navajo_sand_painDng.php

38. The
Drip
Pain<ngs
Drip
painDng
enabled
a
more
immediate,
spontaneous
approach
“In
the
dripped
and
poured
canvases
Pollock
eliminated
all
symbols
and
signs;
only
the
gesture
itself
remained
as
a
mythic
metaphor.”
Fineberg,
p.
93
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

39. The
Drip
Pain<ngs
Un-­‐premeditated
=
direct
expression
of
unconscious
“The
thing
that
interests
me
is
that
todays
painters
do
not
have
to
go
to
a
subject
maVer
outside
themselves.
Most
modern
painters
work
from
a
different
source.
They
work
from
within.”
Jackson
Pollock
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

40. The
Drip
Pain<ngs
“I
am
nature.”
Jackson
Pollock
“When
Pollock
told
Hofmann
in
1942
“I
am
nature,”
he
meant
that
to
him
the
central
subject
maVer
of
painDng
derived
from
this
direct,
introspecDve
exploraDon
instead
of
from
the
external
world.”
Fineberg,
p.
93
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

41. The
Drip
Pain<ngs
Enamel
paints
and
unconvenDonal
tools
=
rejecDon
of
“aestheDc
refinement”
“I
conDnue
to
get
further
away
from
the
usual
painter’s
tools
such
as
easel,
paleVe,
brushes,
etc.
I
prefer
sDcks,
trowels,
knives,
and
dripping
fluid
paint
or
a
heavy
impasto
with
sand,
broken
glass,
and
other
foreign
maVer
added.”
Jackson
Pollock

42. The
Drip
Pain<ngs
“The
coarse
look
of
their
painDng
was
a
defiant
denial
of
Madison
Avenue
slickness;
the
paint-­‐smeared
dungarees
versus
the
gray
flannel
suit;
the
look
of
the
grimy
studio
against
BeVer
Homes
and
Gardens.”
Irving
Sandler

43. The
Drip
Pain<ngs
In
1951
Hans
Namuth
and
Paul
Falkenberg
filmed
Pollock
working
“My
painDng
does
not
come
from
the
easel.
I
hardly
ever
stretch
my
canvas
before
painDng,
I
prefer
to
tack
the
unstretched
canvas
to
the
hard
wall
or
floor.
I
need
the
resistance
of
a
hard
surface.
On
the
floor
I
am
more
at
ease.
I
feel
nearer,
more
a
part
of
the
painDng,
since
I
can
walk
around
it,
work
from
all
four
sides
and
literally
be
in
the
painDng.
This
is
akin
to
the
method
of
the
Indian
sand
painters
in
the
West.”
Jackson
Pollock
Jackson
Pollock
51,
1951
(excerpt)
Hans
Namuth
and
Paul
Falkenberg
(directors)
Morton
Feldman
(composer)
hVp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrVE-­‐WQBcYQ

44. Ac<on
Pain<ng
Harold
Rosenberg
christened
this
new
approach
to
painDng
“AcDon
PainDng”
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

45. Ac<on
Pain<ng
“At
a
certain
moment
the
canvas
began
to
appear
to
one
American
painter
aJer
another
as
an
arena
in
which
to
act—rather
than
as
a
space
in
which
to
reproduce,
re-­‐design,
analyze
or
"express"
an
object,
actual
or
imagined.
What
was
to
go
on
the
canvas
was
not
a
picture
but
an
event.”
Harold
Rosenberg,
“ The
American
AcDon
Painters”
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

46. Ac<on
Pain<ng
“The
painter
no
longer
approached
his
easel
with
an
image
in
his
mind;
he
went
up
to
it
with
material
in
his
hand
to
do
something
to
that
other
piece
of
material
in
front
of
him.
The
image
would
be
the
result
of
this
encounter.”
Harold
Rosenberg,
“ The
American
AcDon
Painters”
Jackson
Pollock
in
front
of
a
blank
canvas

47. Ac<on
Pain<ng
“In
a
word,
man
must
create
his
own
essence;
it
is
in
throwing
himself
into
the
world,
in
suffering
it,
in
struggling
with
it,
that
–
liVle
by
liVle
–
he
defines
himself.”
Jean
Paul
Sartre
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

48. Ac<on
Pain<ng
The
acDon
painter
invents
a
new
form
of
expression,
like
the
prehistoric
painters
who
leJ
their
first
marks
on
cave
walls
Jackson
Pollock,
Number
1A,
1948
Museum
of
Modern
Art

49. Ac<on
Pain<ng
“Universal”
themes
 Chaos
 ExistenDal
struggle
of
good
vs
evil
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950
Metropolitan Museum

50. Ac<on
Pain<ng
“The
present
painter
can
be
said
to
work
with
chaos
.
.
.
.
In
trying
to
go
beyond
the
visible
and
the
known
world
he
is
working
with
forms
that
are
unknown
even
to
him.”
BarneV
Newman,
“ The
Plasmic
Image”
(1943-­‐1945)
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950
Metropolitan Museum

51. Jackson
Pollock,
One:
Number
31,
1950
MOMA

52. Student
Responses
“[It
seems
to]
represent
disharmony.
I
had
the
feeling
there
was
discontent
in
his
life,
or
in
the
world
at
that
Dme”
“The
forms
are
furious,
organic
and
inorganic,
curved
and
ruler
straight.
It
is
an
angry
piece”
“The
movement
seems
to
express
frustraDon.
The
use
of
bland
colors
such
as
brown
and
white
gives
it
the
feeling
of
frustrated
energy”
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950
Metropolitan Museum

53. Summary
Direct,
immediate,
spontaneous,
unpremeditated
method
of
expression
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

54. Summary
Expression
of
“collecDve”
unconscious
–
the
personal
and
the
social
converge
Hans
Namuth,
Jackson
Pollock,
1950

55. Summary
Universal
language
rather
than
symbols
Adolphe
GoVlieb,
Augury,
1945
Guggenheim
Museum
Jackson
Pollock,
Male
and
Female,
1942

56. Summary
Mural
scale
=
“public”
meaning
Diego
Rivera,
Detroit
Industry,
1932-­‐3
Detroit
InsDtute
of
AJs

57. Summary
UnconvenDonal
materials
=
rejecDon
of
“aestheDc”
refinement,
and
“slick”
consumerism

58. Summary
PainDng
as
an
“adventure”
into
the
unknown
ExistenDalist
act
of
“self-­‐creaDon”

59. Willem
de
Kooning
(1904-­‐1997)
Dutch
immigrant
Academic
training
Willem
de
Kooning,
S>ll
Life,
1921

60. Willem
de
Kooning
(1904-­‐1997)
Alberto
Giacome{
Francis
Bacon,
Self
Portrait,
1958
Man
Poin>ng,
1947
Hirshorn
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Willem
de
Kooning,
Man,
1939
Private
CollecDon

61. Willem
de
Kooning
(1904-­‐1997)
“It’s
really
absurd
to
make
.
.
.
a
human
image,
with
paint,
today,
when
you
think
about
it
.
.
.
But
then
all
of
a
sudden,
it
was
even
more
absurd
not
to
do
it.”
Willem
de
Kooning
“Art never seems to make
me peaceful or pure”
Willem de Kooning
Willem
de
Kooning,
Man,
1939
Private
CollecDon

62. J.
A.
D.
Ingres,
Madame
de
Senonnes,
1814
Willem
De
Kooning,
Seated
Woman,
1940
Museé
des
Beaux
Arts,
Nantes
Philadelphia
Museum
of
Art

63. Willem
De
Kooning,
Seated
Woman,
1940
Philadelphia
Museum
of
Art

67. Willem
De
Kooning,
Seated
Woman,
1944
Willem
De
Kooning,
Queen
of
Hearts,
1946
Metropolitan
Museum
Hirshorn

68. “Today,
some
people
think
that
the
light
of
the
atom
bomb
will
change
the
concept
of
painDng
once
and
for
all.
The
eyes
that
actually
saw
the
light
melted
out
of
sheer
ecstasy.
For
one
instant,
everybody
was
the
same
color.
It
made
angels
out
of
everybody.
A
truly
ChrisDan
light,
painful
but
forgiving.”
Willem
de
Kooning
Willem
De
Kooning,
Pink
Angels,
1945

69. Pablo
Picasso,
Charnel
House,
1945
Museum
of
Modern
Art

70. Willem
De
Kooning,
Excava>on,
1950
Art
InsDtute
of
Chicago

71. “According
to
de
Kooning,
his
point
of
departure
was
an
image
of
women
working
in
a
rice
field
from
BiRer
Rice,
a
1949
Italian
Neorealist
film.
The
mobile
structure
of
hooked,
calligraphic
lines
defines
anatomical
parts—bird
and
fish
shapes,
human
noses,
eyes,
teeth,
necks,
and
jaws—
revealing
the
parDcular
tension
between
abstracDon
and
figuraDon
that
is
inherent
in
de
Kooning’s
work.”
Art
InsDtute
of
Chicago
Willem
De
Kooning,
Excava>on,
1950
Art
InsDtute
of
Chicago

72. The
LiberaDon
of
Belsen
ConcentraDon
Camp
April
1945:
A
BriDsh
Army
bulldozer
pushes
bodies
into
a
mass
grave
at
Belsen.
-­‐
19
April
1945
Imperial
War
Museum
Willem
De
Kooning,
Excava>on,
1950
Art
InsDtute
of
Chicago

73. The
working
technique
used
to
create
Gotham
News
has
been
labeled
"acDon"
or
"gesture"
painDng,
referring
to
the
fact
that
the
arDst’s
movements
and
creaDon
process
are
clearly
evident
in
the
final
result.
De
Kooning
used
a
number
of
different
sized
brushes—some
strokes
are
very
wide
and
others
are
quite
thin.
The
paint
is
applied
in
a
variety
of
ways
as
well,
from
very
thin
passages
to
thick
areas
of
paint
squeezed
directly
from
the
tubes
.
.
.
The
role
of
accident
was
important
as
well,
as
seen
in
the
unintended
newsprint
and
the
way
in
which
the
paint
was
allowed
to
run
in
a
number
of
areas.
Albright
Knox
Art
Gallery
Willem
de
Kooning,
Gotham
News,
1955
Albright
Knox
Art
Gallery

74. The
Women
1950s
returned
to
the
figure
in
a
series
of
monumentally
scaled
women
Hans
Namuth,
Elaine
and
Willem
de
Kooning,
1953

75. Audio
clip:
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Willem
De
Kooning
Woman
I,
1950-­‐52
Museum
of
Modern
Art

76. Willem
De
Kooning,
Woman
and
Willem
De
Kooning,
Woman
V,
1952-­‐53
Bicycle,
1952–53
NaDonal
Gallery
of
Australia
Whitney
Museum

77. The
Women
The
figure
is
raw
and
besDal,
much
like
Dubuffet’s
contemporaneous
Corps
des
Dames
Jean
Dubuffet,
Triumph
and
Glory,
1950
Willem
De
Kooning
Woman
I,
1950-­‐52
Museum
of
Modern
Art

81. “De
Kooning’s
Eves,
Clytemnaestras,
Whores
of
Babylon,
call
them
what
you
will,
have
a
universality,
an
apocalypDc
presence
that
is
rare
in
art
of
any
Dme
or
any
country.”
Andrew
Ritchie,
catalog
entry
for
De
Kooning
ExhibiDon,
Venice
Bienniale,
1954