WILLEM DE KOONING  

 

Biografia
Willem de Kooning nacque a Rotterdam il 24 aprile 1904. Seguì i corsi serali alla Rotterdam Academie voor Beldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen (Rotterdam Academy) fino al 1924. Successivamente studiò presso l’Académie royale des Beaux-Arts a Brussels e alla van Schelling School of Design a Antwerp. Nel 1926 si trasferì negli Stati Uniti e lavorò illegalmente a New York come vetrinista e carpentiere. In questa ciottà de Kooning conobbe altri artisti tra i quali John Graham, Stuart Davis e Arshile Gorky. Lavorò per la Federal Art Project tra il 1935 e il  1939 realizzando dei murales. Dal 1935 iniziò a dedicarsi completamente alla pittura. Condivise  lo studio con Gorky e la sua pittura subì l’influenza dello stile surrealista di questo e dello stile di Picasso. De Kooning fu influenzato anche dalla pittura di Jackson Pollock e Franz Kline che lo ispirarono nei suoi primi lavori in bianco e nero astratti del 1946. Dal 1950 dipinse le sue prime 'Women' che fecero scalpore. Continuò a dipingere questi soggetti sino agli anni Novanta. Nello stesso periodo si concentrò anche su paesaggi astratti, principalmente tra il 1957 e il 1961.  Divenne cittadino americano solo nel 1962. Nel 1954 partecipò alla Biennale di Venezia, dove espose uno dei suoi lavori più importanti, 'Excavation', e fu riconosciuto come uno dei maggiori esponenti dell’espressionismo astratto. . Nel 1970 si dedicò alla scultura in bronzo. Negli anni successivi gli furono dedicate numerose esposizioni e retrospettive. Willem de Kooning morì il 19 marzo 1997.

 

 

 

Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam on 24 April 1904. He attended evening courses at the Rotterdam Academie voor Beldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen (Rotterdam Academy) until 1924. Afterwards he studied at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the van Schelling School of Design in Antwerp. In 1926 the young artist emigrated to the USA, where he worked illegally in New York as a commercial artist, window dresser, sign painter and carpenter. There de Kooning met other artists, including John Graham, Stuart Davis and Arshile Gorky and worked for the Federal Art Project, for which he did murals between 1935 and 1939. From 1935 in fact, he was able to devote himself entirely to painting. He shared a studio with Gorky and his early pictures were influenced by Gorky's Surrealist style and by Picasso's painting. However, de Kooning was also inspired by Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. Contact with Pollock and Kline inspired him to do his first black-and-white abstract works in 1946; he returned to them in 1959. From 1950 he developed his first 'Women' pictures, which are notable for such vehemence of handling that they at first caused a scandal. He retained this type of figuration until the 1990s. At the same time he also worked on fairly abstract landscapes, mainly during the years between 1957 and 1961. Was naturalised as an American citizen in 1962. At the latest from his participation in the 1954 Venice Biennale, where he was represented with one of his most important works, 'Excavation', de Kooning has been regarded as a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism. These years of his career were filled with numerous shows of his work and retrospectives. In 1970 he turned to sculpturing in bronze. Willem de Kooning died on 19 March 1997 (FONTE: http://www.willem-de-kooning.com/)

 

 

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