Woman

Willem de Kooning, Woman, ca. 1952-1953, pastel on paper mounted on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Vincent Melzac Collection through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1980.5.3
Willem de Kooning, Woman, ca. 1952-1953, pastel on paper mounted on canvas, 23 1⁄2 x 18 1⁄2 in. (59.7 x 47.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Vincent Melzac Collection through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1980.5.3

Artwork Details

Title
Woman
Artist
Date
ca. 1952-1953
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
23 1⁄2 x 18 1⁄2 in. (59.7 x 47.0 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase from the Vincent Melzac Collection through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
Mediums
Mediums Description
pastel on paper mounted on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure female — full length
  • Abstract
Object Number
1980.5.3
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1980.5.3

Artwork Description

The female body was a central theme in Willem de Kooning’s paintings of the 1940s and ‘50s. At the time this drawing was executed, the images from his Women series were becoming increasingly fragmented and chaotic. The inscription at the bottom right, “to dear Ruth with love,” probably refers to the artist’s mistress and muse Ruth Kligman, a well-known art-world socialite about whom de Kooning famously remarked: “She really puts the lead in my pencil.” It is possible that his embrace of the female figure may have taken on new immediacy during this period when he juggled his marriage to Elaine de Kooning, a relationship with Joan Ward, who bore him a child, and an affair with Kligman, who was Jackson Pollock’s mistress shortly before she took up with de Kooning.

Abstract Drawings, 2012

Works by this artist (12 items)

View all artworks
Willem de Kooning, The Wave, ca. 1942-1944, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift from the Vincent Melzac Collection, 1980.6.1
The Wave
Artist
Dateca. 1942-1944
oil on fiberboard
On view
Image Not Available
Valentine
Artist
Date1970
lithograph on paper
Not on view
Willem de Kooning, The Netherlands, from the United Nations Series, 1944, acrylic on prepared fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.82
The Netherlands, from the United Nations Series
Artist
Date1944
acrylic on prepared fiberboard
Not on view
Willem de Kooning, Untitled, 1966, oil and newspaper on board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of David Motheral in honor of Cornelia J. Strawser, 2021.97.1
Untitled
Artist
Date1966
oil and newspaper on board
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

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Alice Pike Barney, Blonde Girl with Boa, ca. 1927, pastel on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney, 1966.111.2
Blonde Girl with Boa
Artist
Dateca. 1927
pastel on paper
Not on view
Alice Pike Barney, Mother and Crying Baby, 1911, pastel on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney, 1951.14.70
Mother and Crying Baby
Artist
Date1911
pastel on canvas
Not on view
Boris Anisfeldt, Goat, ca. 1930-1940, pencil and pastel on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Otis Chatfield-Taylor in memory of her father Boris Anisfeldt, 1982.22
Goat
Artist
Dateca. 1930-1940
pencil and pastel on paper
Not on view
Jochen Seidel, Mind Your Train Depository, 1963-1967, pastel on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.95
Mind Your Train Depository
Artist
Date1963-1967
pastel on paper
Not on view