The young Willem de Kooning: Early life, training and work, 1904--1926.
Item
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Title
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The young Willem de Kooning: Early life, training and work, 1904--1926.
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Identifier
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AAI9907990
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identifier
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9907990
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Creator
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Wolfe, Judith Lynn.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Rose Carol Washton Long
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History | Biography
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Abstract
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Knowledge of Willem de Kooning's early years before his emigration to the United States at the age of twenty-two has been based primarily on several paragraphs written by Thomas B. Hess in his 1959, 1968 and 1972 monographs on the artist. This study provides fresh research and unpublished early paintings and drawings in a more rigorous exploration of de Kooning's early development.;Eight chapters follow a chronological arrangement. New biographical information, drawn from archival research and interviews, is offered in Chapter 1, "Rotterdam and Family," and Chapter 6, "Family and Friends.".;Chapter 2 presents Gidding & Sons, the painting and decorating firm for which de Kooning worked from 1916 to 1920; Jaap Gidding's career is discussed, along with information about the Rotterdam art world of the generation prior to de Kooning's. In Chapter 3, about de Kooning's experience at the Rotterdam Academy, teachers Johannes Heyberg and Jacob Jongert receive considerable attention, as does the course of instruction with its distinctive offerings. Chapter 4 and the Appendix are devoted to Bernard Romein, the young artist for whom de Kooning worked as assistant, and his most important mentor in these years; some of Romein's works are indebted to Dutch artist Johan Thorn Prikker.;The wider art world in which de Kooning's formation took place, the subject of Chapter 5, is described with attention to de Kooning's vantage point as well as to what can be known of the prevailing situation. The work of Jan Toorop, Willem van Konijnenburg, Kees van Dongen, Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, Charley Toorop, Hendrik Chabot, Piet van der Hem, and others is discussed. In 1924 de Kooning and two friends travelled to Belgium, an event chronicled in Chapter 7.;An oil painting and drawings of 1924 and 1925 are presented in Chapter 8 with attention to style, subjects, and sources, under the headings "Symbolist Works," "Cartoon-like Works," and Portraits and Portrait-like Works." They offer a wealth of thematic and formal precedent for insight into de Kooning's later attitudes to imagery and style, implications of which are taken up in the Conclusion.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
