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WILLEM DE KOONING (1904-1997) WOMAN (BETTER LATE THAN NEVER) signed and inscribed "To Mr. R. Schw...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:220,000.00 - 280,000.00 USD
WILLEM DE KOONING (1904-1997) WOMAN (BETTER LATE THAN NEVER) signed and inscribed  To Mr. R. Schw...
WILLEM DE KOONING
(1904-1997)
WOMAN (BETTER LATE THAN NEVER)
signed and inscribed "To Mr. R. Schwartz 'Better late than never'
de Kooning" lower left
brush and black ink on paper
231/2 x 183/4 in. (59.7 x 47.6 cm)
executed ca. 1969
ESTIMATE: $35,000-45,000
PROVENANCE
Private collection, CALIFORNIA
(gifted by the artist)
168WILLEM DE KOONING
(1904-1997)
UNTITLED
signed "de Kooning" lower left
oil on vellum mounted on canvas
64 x 41 in. (162.6 x 104.1 cm)
painted ca. 1961-1963
ESTIMATE: $220,000-280,000
PROVENANCE
Lang O'Hara, NEW YORK
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, NEW YORK
Drawing for Willem de Kooning was an intimate component of his artwork. Inseparable from the process of painting, drawing ultimately gave breath to the body of de Kooning's art. De Kooning often drew on his canvas before beginning to paint; in the process of making, he often drew with charcoal into wet paint. He drew incessantly, first on tracing paper, and later on large sheets of vellum. Ultimately, his objective was drawing; there was minimal concern in the differences between a preparatory sketch, a breathless idea or an individual work.
In the 1960s, de Kooning made charcoal tracings on large sheets of vellum by reproducing sections of one or another of his finished paintings. He kept these works in his studio to serve as catalysts to spark self-dialogue in subsequent painting. In describing these specific vellum works, it has been explained that, "Occasionally, when he arrived at a configuration he might wish to employ in the future, a tracing was made from a painting in process. More often than not, the subject was part of a painting that visibly incorporated a figure...Many of these tracings were made on both sides of the vellum so that de Kooning also might be able to revive their mirror image. The side chosen to be transferred to canvas was drawn over from the reverse side onto a section of bare canvas, to become part of the beginning of a new painting. A tracing might also be introduced into a painting in process. On occasion, both sides might be inducted into the formation of a new painting" (K. Kertess, WILLEM DE KOONING: DRAWING SEEING/SEEING DRAWING,
SANTA FE, 1998, pp. 23-24).
In de Kooning's Untitled, ca. 1961-1963, his freely drawn line moves to suggest calligraphic and curvilinear forms, many of which reappear in his textural and lusciously painted abstract canvases of the 1970s. While the imagery of de Kooning's Untitled is at first glance purely abstract, it is charged with meaning in its merger of abstract and concrete forms. Moreover, de Kooning's use of oil paint enhances the tonal and textural impact of the work, which ultimately instigates in the viewer the perception of capturing fleeting imagery.