Brooklyn Museum: Collections: Contemporary Art

Willem de Kooning (American, b. Holland, 1904–1997). Woman, 1953–54. Oil on paperboard, 35 3/4 x 24 3/8 in. (90.8 x 62.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alastair B. Martin, the Guennol Collection, 57.124

The female figure was predominant in de Kooning's work from the time of his arrival in America in 1926 until the 1950s. Along the way he abandoned strict attention to the figure, maintaining, "You could lose your mind" drawing objects so closely resembling nature. In this dynamic work, part of his Woman series, the image is neither fully abstract nor completely representational. Human body parts, though discernible, are obscured by rich and frenzied painterly lines. Facial features are the artist's only concession to an identifiable figure: the mask-like face, flattened forms, and almond-shaped eyes show the influence of Picasso; fang-like teeth dominate the face. Years after de Kooning completed the Woman series, he said: "I look at them [the Woman paintings] now and they seem vociferous and ferocious. I think it had to do with the idea of the idol, the oracle, and above all, the hilariousness of it."

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