Willem de Kooning: Drawing Seeing/Seeing Drawing

Willem de Kooning: Drawing Seeing/Seeing Drawing presented approximately seventy works, across four different drawing series. The presentation of four of these series, seldom seen on display, afforded a close view of de Kooning's working process and his constant reinvention of mark-making.

Willem de Kooning, a pioneer of the Abstract Expressionist movement, was born in Rotterdam in 1904 and moved to New York City in 1926. He remained in New York until 1963, at which point he moved to Long Island, where he resided until his death in 1997. De Kooning's oil paintings, drawings, lithographic prints, and bronze sculptures attested to his proficiency in diverse mediums. Inspired by the past, popular culture, and his immediate surroundings, de Kooning worked across a wide variety of themes: the city, landscape, and the human figure. De Kooning's works were initially influenced by cubism and surrealism, yet they slowly evolved into more lyrical and pastoral abstractions.

Willem de Kooning's, Folded Shirt on Laundry Paper, 1958, was composed with a calligraphic spareness and openness that laid bare a panoply of mark-making possibilities. In 1966, de Kooning created twenty-four small drawings with his eyes closed, yet they were notably indistinguishable from drawings that he made with eyes open. During the 1960s, de Kooning created a variety of charcoal drawings of the Crucifixion. Most of the drawings in the exhibition were in the collection of the Willem de Kooning Revocable Trust. The remaining drawings were loaned from The Menil Collection, Houston; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the Matthew Marks Gallery, New York; and private collections.

Willem de Kooning: Drawing Seeing/Seeing Drawing was accompanied by a catalogue published by Arena Editions in association with The Drawing Center. The catalogue was 128 pages with 74 color plates and included a foreword by Ann Philbin and an essay by Klaus Kertess.

Willem de Kooning: Drawing Seeing/Seeing Drawing featured a range of public programs including lectures, gallery talks, and a symposium. Programs for school groups featured educator-led tours of the exhibition followed by discussion and art-making activities.