I just finished reading de Kooning, An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan. This is a big book, at 631 pages without the notes, and it covers every aspect of de Kooning's life and his art, including the lives of his wife Elaine de Kooning, and his friends and contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock, Rothko, Franz Kline, and others. The book provides a fascinating look into the beginnings of the New York School of painting or "action painting." The name that stuck, however, was "abstract expressionism."
I had been an admirer of de Kooning's work long before I read this book. I always loved his lush brushstrokes, the confident looseness of his compositions, and his courageous use of color. But I had known nothing about his life. Learning of his difficult childhood in Holland and very hard beginnings in the US after stowing away on a freighter at age twenty-two to get here, his ongoing struggles with depression, artist's blocks and alcohol were understandable.
But de Kooning always put his art first, and that's what saved him and gave his work its strength. His stubborness cost him, when he refused to give Peggy Guggenheim a painting to put in a show she was organizing and therefore probably delayed his acceptance in the art world. But his stubborness also saved him from lavishly following the trend of the day. When the official art world moved on from abstract expressionism to pop art and conceptual art, de Kooning refused to follow. He went in his own direction in spite of poor reviews and a loss of following among younger artists. That's not an easy thing to do once you've had the limelight in a big way, and de Kooning did.
De Kooning's example helps strengthen my own resolve to paint what I must, not what is fashionable. His work habits and singlemindedness are an inspiration, while his humor and playfulness remind me not to take myself or the world too seriously.
If you have an interest in art and artists, I highly recommend de Kooning, An American Master.
