Willem de Kooning, one of the great pioneers of Abstract Expressionism, experimented with the human form throughout his career. An artist deeply skeptical about Western ideals of beauty, he focused on anatomical fragmentation and spatial ambiguity to express the fleeting nature of the individual. This strikingly designed book, published in conjunction with an exhibition originating at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, explores de Kooning's drawings of the female form between 1940 and 1955. It reveals an artist ...
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Willem de Kooning, one of the great pioneers of Abstract Expressionism, experimented with the human form throughout his career. An artist deeply skeptical about Western ideals of beauty, he focused on anatomical fragmentation and spatial ambiguity to express the fleeting nature of the individual. This strikingly designed book, published in conjunction with an exhibition originating at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, explores de Kooning's drawings of the female form between 1940 and 1955. It reveals an artist who struggled to eliminate traditional barriers between drawing and painting as he explored ambiguities between the figure and its background. De Kooning relied on early-twentieth-century abstraction in his initial attempts to redefine the figure, drawing and re-drawing the same line until he resolved the image. Beginning in 1947-49, he synthesized abstraction and figuration, dismembering figures and rearranging them with seeming randomness. As his figural compositions developed, geometric configurations transformed into architectural elements (suggesting windows, doors, mirrors, paintings, and furniture) to create ambiguous space. In 1951, de Kooning abruptly returned to depictions of women. Using turbulent brushwork, he turned female figures into monumental, intentionally vulgar, wildly distorted images whose parts read alternately as flat pattern and fully rounded forms. The effect is an almost violent sensuality. The artist's later style differed dramatically from that of earlier decades. Familiar shapes and hues suggest that women remain in his works, yet they are distorted beyond recognition as if seen from underwater. As put by Thomas Hess, the artist's friend and critic, "Woman, for de Kooning, is the human equivalent of water; more than a vessel, she embodies it in planes of rippling flesh." EXHIBITION SCHEDULE http: //... The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles February 10, 2002-May 5, 2002 http: //... The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. September 29, 2002-January 5, 2003 http: //... The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art June 15 - September 8, 2002
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Add this copy of Willem De Kooning: Tracing the Figure to cart. $50.00, very good condition, Sold by Moe's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Berkeley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Princeton University Press.
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Seller's Description:
Near fine in Very good jacket. Jacket is lightly worn along edges. Jacket is lightly sunned along spine and around bottom edge of back cover, not affecting legibility. Book itself is in excellent condition with no visible flaws. Binding is tight and inside is clean and unmarked.
Add this copy of Willem De Kooning: Tracing the Figure to cart. $65.43, like new condition, Sold by Wm Burgett Bks & Collectibles rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Diego, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of Willem De Kooning: Tracing the Figure to cart. $96.88, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of Willem De Kooning Tracing the Figure to cart. $97.50, very good condition, Sold by Books on the Boulevard rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sherman Oaks, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of Willem De Kooning: Tracing the Figure to cart. $97.99, very good condition, Sold by Resource Books, LLC rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from East Granby, CT, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Princeton University Press.
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Very Good in Very Good jacket. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002. First edition, 2002. Color illustrated throughout. Large book, 13.5 inches tall, green over tan linen-like cloth, illustrated dustjacket. The book is in very good condition with a slight bump at the top edge of the front cover that is not visible on the dustjacket, otherwise fine condition with tight binding, clean pages, no names or other markings. The mylar protected dustjacket has some shelf soil to the rear cover, otherwise fine with no chips or tears. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. Folio-12"-15" Tall.
Add this copy of Willem De Kooning: Tracing the Figure to cart. $107.00, like new condition, Sold by Arcana: Books on the Arts rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Culver City, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Museum of Contemporary Art & Princeton University Press.
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Fine in fine dust jacket. (DE KOONING, WILLEM). Butler, Cornelia H., Paul Schimmel, Cornelia H., Paul Schimmel, Richard Shiff & Anne M. Wagner. WILLEM DE KOONING: TRACING THE FIGURE. Los Angeles & Princeton, NJ: Museum of Contemporary Art & Princeton University Press, 2002. First Edition. 4to. Cloth in Illustrated Jacket. Artist Monograph. Fine/Fine. 200pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. Designed by Tracey Schiffman. With an exhibition checklist and bibliography. This is the lavish hardbound catalogue published in conjunction with a 2002 Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles retrospective of seventy-eight figurative works on paper by the famed Abstract Expressionist pioneer Willem De Kooning. A brand new, most handsome example still in the publisher's shrinkwrap. 0-691-09618-X Inventory Number: 026305.
