De Kooning : An American Master

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Summary: multi-dimensional biography of the leading modern artist
Review: De Kooning arrived in America from Holland as a stowaway in 1926. The rest is art history. This voluminous, multi-dimensional biography follows the trajectory of the life of this leading 20th-century artist from impoverished immigrant through Greenwich Village libertine and rising artist to his move to Long Island and his position at the pinnacle of the art world and eventual dementia-afflicted decline in his last years. Relating de Kooning's friendships with other artists, relationships with women, course in the lively, avant-garde New York City art world of mid-century, the development of his artistry, and his lasting influence on modern art, the biography reflects not only all facets of the artist's life, but also the art scene and a good deal of the society of the period. And it offers vignettes of many notable artists, critics, art gallery owners, and such. With regular quotes from de Kooning's writings and other documents, photographs of him at different times of his life and at work, and illustrations of works of art, including a 16-page section of works in color, Stevens and Swan's book imparts an incomparable, memorable picture of de Kooning. The reader comes to comprehend de Kooning as an individual and also the reasons for his unmistakable influence. Both authors are art critics connected with leading periodicals.


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Summary: Superb Biography deserves Pulitzer
Review: An immigrant story of a famous Dutchman who became an American master.Wonderful narrative,great research,brilliant in "explaining" modern art and in particular de koonings paintings.One of the best biographies I have read.Truly a masterful work.No civilized person can pass this one.


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Summary: A Totally Absorbing and Masterful Book
Review: I found this book riveting--both a brilliant portrait of the artist and a deeply felt exploration of his art. In the past, I was always puzzled by the passionate, reverent affection a friend of mine, a successful figurative painter, expressed for de Kooning's work. Now I get it. Like all good criticism, "De Kooning: An American Master" expands the reader's understanding of (and appreciation for) the art it luminously examines. At the same time, the authors deftly conjure forth a three-dimensional picture of de Kooning the man: self-contradictory, funny, brilliant, maddening, and wholly original. The result is an insightful, fascinating book-as Janet Maslin wrote in the New York Times, "smart and unflinching," "remarkably lucid," a "sweeping, authoritative biography."



Rating:
Summary: Strongly recommended
Review: I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in artistic expression. It really captures the soul of the master.

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Summary: 20th Century Portrait
Review: I was in Amsterdam at The Reichsmuseum the first time I saw a de Kooning, though at the time, I did not know it was a de Kooning. But the powerful abstraction stopped me in my tracks and spoke to me in a clear visual voice.

This superb book vividly, relates the saga of de Kooning's life and times in New York City and his terrible struggle to remain true to his art (sometimes having nothing but catsup to eat), as well as a superb snapshot of the Beat era and America's emergence as the world center of modern art, eclipsing Paris.

Even those not particularly interested in painting will be richly rewarded, wheather you are young and fascinated with the early 20th century, or you are among those of us who remember those glorious days.

John LoPresti

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Summary: de Kooning
Review: I was outraged by Edward Baiamonte's review of the biography DE KOONING, AN AMERICAN MASTER. Mine is not a review but a rebuttal to such harmful comments. When he speaks of "egotistically" I think he should look at himself, who seems to think he alone knows what art should be expressing. De Kooning's work is a great importance in the history of art and in the expression of the inner self of a great artist. De Kooning was well trained in the Old Masters type of portraiture (if this man read the book, he'd know that),;he had exquisite skill. Abstract Expression is just one way of releasing, exploring and communicating the complexities of life. This biographyh of de Kooning is remarkable in its thorough examination of the life of one of the great characters of the century and remarkable for its ability to make the act of painting a physical and psychological experience we, the readers, can understand. I, for one, dread facing long books because I am a slow reader, but, in this case, I couldn't put the book down -- as we say. It is a great read, it is based on serious research, it could not be more immediate in terms of pleasure. It's a great read,. If this reviewer wants to bring God and morality into this book, I think any god, including his, would be proud of such a searching mind and talent, de Kooning would represent man's higher nature in all its soul searching, in failures and success. I am giving this book to most people on my Christmas list!

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Summary: De Kooning
Review: The best biography of an artist or photographer (American or otherwise) that I've read. If you're into art and like to read biographies, you can't beat "de Kooning". Wow, where can I find other artist's biographies this well written and entertaining?

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Summary: Zowie!
Review: The New York abstract expressionists have been written to death. The Village, the Cedar, the Hamptons-is there anything we don't know? As it turns out, yes.

This big, fat bio of Willem de Kooning takes all the familiar people, places and ideas and makes them pop up off the page. As they tell de Kooning's story, Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan lead you through downtown New York the '40s, '50s and '60s, when rebellion, sex and booze helped fuel perhaps the most modern of artistic movements. This is intellectual history, sure. But the depth of the research and reporting in the book puts you in the room as things are happening-painting, arguing, affairs-in a way that few biographies can.

But the book isn't just a long party sequence: You see and hear de Kooning struggling with his art, his celebrity, and, ultimately, his integrity as well. And then there's his long sad decline; after a White House dinner he had to be reminded that the man he had sat next to was President Ronald Reagan.

In the full disclosure department, I have worked with the authors. Even if I hadn't, I would still press "de Kooning" on my friends.

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Summary: An American Classic
Review: This superb biography of Willem de Kooning can be separated into several major themes. There's the classic immigrant success story shading into classic American tragedy. Young de Kooning flees a hardscrabble, emotionally difficult home life in Rotterdam by stowing away on a freighter bound for America. After years of poverty and struggle, his paintings attract critical, then commercial success. But in his triumph are the seeds of his downfall: the unresolved psychological issues that are the source of his creative genius are also the source of tremendous anxiety. As the clamor for fresh masterpieces increases, the pressure of mining the places of inner pain becomes unbearable. De Kooning becomes an alcoholic whose innumerable binge drunks would have killed someone who didn't possess his superhuman physical vitality.

The book is also an inside look at the history of modern American art. De Kooning was at center stage during its rise in the thirties and forties and its flowering in the fifties. His first mentor, Arshile Gorky, taught him what it meant to be a serious artist in America. We watch de Kooning trying to outrun the gigantic shadow of Picasso, culminating in paintings such as Excavation and the black-and-white series that achieved a brilliant synthesis of cubism and surrealism, the dominant art movements of the first half of the twentieth century. During the fifties, he and Jackson Pollock represented the opposing camps of American expressionism. During this period, de Kooning refused to abandon figurative drawing or attempts to integrate form into abstract compositions. This put him at odds with leading art critics (Clement Greenburg, for instance) who championed the historical necessity of moving away from figurative representation.

Finally, the authors spin a spellbinding psychological tale. Raised by an abusive, domineering mother and an emotionally absent father, de Kooning was both strongly attracted to women and deeply paranoid about their potential power over him. His fear of being trapped led him to always keep his options open, in art and in life. He never divorced his first wife, Elaine, even though they lived apart for over thirty years. He had a daughter (Lisa) with Joan Ward, and while he never totally abandoned them, he never settled in with them either. If Elaine and Joan were the rhythm section of his love life, he also worked with a large rotating cast of solo performers and backup singers. Although he could be a poster boy for bad male behavior - instances of irresponsibility, self-absorption, philandering, violence and booze-ups too numerous to catalog - his women were fanatically loyal to him. None of his lovers have many bad things to say about a man who, looked at from the outside, might be mistaken for a world-class misogynist.

All of these themes fuse in the authors' discussion of de Kooning's famous painting, Woman 1, still one of the most disturbing representations of the female form in all of art. By the late forties, after years of abject poverty, de Kooning's abstract works were achieving critical and commercial success. But instead of painting more of these works, de Kooning stopped what he was doing and started working in a completely new direction, on a figurative drawing of a woman. Instead of making money and garnering kudos, he spent almost three years on one painting. At one level, he was attempting to bring the history of art forward into expressionism. Using the goddess figures of ancient Mesopotamia as his starting point, he worked in cubist planes and surrealist imagery to create a terrifying modern goddess. For all its homage to the past, the work was also a deeply subjective expression of his love and fear of women, and beneath that, his desire for and need to escape from the suffocating embrace of his mother.

De Kooning refused to force easy or false solutions on this painting, reworking it again and again while art world fashion moved further away from what he was trying to do. This and other Woman paintings were never well-received when he first exhibited them. But they are the strongest representation of his refusal to resolve uncomfortable contradictions or play to the painting fashions of the day. His heroic irresolution, combined with masterful technique, give de Kooning's art a sustained tension and palpable aliveness.

Even though he drank destructively from his late forties on, de Kooning made credible paintings into his mid eighties. Alzheimer's disease clouded his mind, but a man acknowledged as one of the greatest draftsmen of the twentieth century didn't forget how to draw. An entire support infrastructure was set up to keep the old man pumping out paintings because each one could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. He lasted until 93, outliving almost all of his contemporaries and many of his younger lovers. The last years were exhausting and depressing, and the authors seem spent by the time they finish chronicling them. After a brief description of the funeral, and a one paragraph summary, they sign off.

De Kooning was a protean figure. A giant of twentieth century art, he absorbed all of its major movements into his work. His outsized personality contained charm and demons enough for ten men. This book is smart about the art and smart about the man, and remarkably even-handed in the telling - the authors seem to deeply admire de Kooning while completely understanding his flaws as an artist and a man. At almost 700 pages it's a commitment for the reader, but it's so well written, and the life story is so fascinating, that it zips along. If you have any interest in American art, or the inner life of a great artist, treat yourself to this book.




Rating:
Summary: A Master
Review: What an amazing man, living in an amazing time. I was very moved by this biography, especially in the way in which de Kooning and his world come alive. The writing contains enough analysis to help connect the dots of the artist's life. And the book is rich in detail, especially about the art world in downtown New York from the 1930s on.

I too was frustrated by the reviewer at the bottom of the page who cleaarly had not read the book and who clearly was not interested in the art, only an "agenda." Please go ahead and ignore it and treat yourself to a powerful experience. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in artistic expression, in the process of creative expression and where it comes from, in the craftmanship and hard work that goes into his art, and in a fascinating period in history. The authors have captured a dynamic view into the soul of a master.