Talk:Willem de Kooning

Untitled

Some of this article may have been plagiarized from the Encyclopedia Britannica, present edition.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=1750

"He had his first one-man show, which consisted of his black-and-white enamel compositions, at the Charles Egan Gallery in New York in 1948 and taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina in 1948 and at the Yale School of Art in 1950–51."

That sentence appears exactly in both articles.

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"The savagely applied pigment and the use of colours that seem vomited on his canvas combine ..."

this statement is not only presumptuous and incorrect, it also reveals complete lack of insight into the actual way in which de Kooning worked -- early-career, mid-career, or late-career. it is being applied to the period of his most famous "Woman" paintings, but exhibits an obvious confusing of the psychological implications -- (or, more acurately, interpretations)-- of these paintings with the technique in which they were painted. De Kooning painted with a precision-like understanding of his materials, and never applied anything "savagely".

this confusion of technique with interpretation also reeks of a kind of adolescent political fixation on possible psychological implications of these "Woman" paintings (which can be seen in the statements following that sentence) that some young art history students are quite fond of. unfortunately, these interpretations usually reveal more about the writer (or student) than the painter. that is a different subject, however, and more open to debate.

Alzheimer's disease

The statement, "Despite published claims, Willem de Kooning was never definitively diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease," seems to stress a particular point of view about the diagnosis, rather than simply stating facts verifiable from sources. It's always better to stick to verifiable sources, so I am returning the diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's, with the reference.--Ethicoaestheticist 11:22, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

In my edit summary I said 'removing' when I of course meant 'returning' :)--Ethicoaestheticist 11:26, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Copyvio

Most of this article has been taken word-for-word from the Encyclopedia Britannica, present edition: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9029596/Willem-de-Kooning --Ethicoaestheticist 12:00, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Action painting

Harold Rosenberg coined the expression Action painting to primarily describe Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock. From 1951 to 1961 nobody dripped, splattered, or splashed, with more savagely painted and violent brush strokes and fierce surfaces than de Kooning.^{[citation needed]}During the 1950s he inspired hundreds of painters (maybe thousands) by the exciting and powerful freedom of his brushstrokes in the mid to late 1950s abstract landscapes - Paintings like Parc Rosenberg, Montauk Highway, Ruth's Zowie, Spike's Folly, Bolton Landing, Gotham News, Door to The River, etc. Modernist 03:26, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

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" From 1951 to 1961 nobody dripped, splattered, or splashed, with more savagely painted and violent brush strokes and fierce surfaces than de Kooning. "

baloney. that's utter nonsense. someone who has bought the KoolAid thinks they know how a brushstroke was applied by looking at a painting, yet (apparently) having no actual experience making one .

considering Pollock made an entire career of splattering and dripping, saying "nobody dripped, splattered more" than de Kooning is totally ludicrous. and a smear here and there is hardly "savage" or violent.

this is total BS. "fierce"? what the h*ll does that mean? DeK's paintings were always designed and pretty.

gakyi

• Thank you for your opinion. Clearly we differ. I agree Pollock dripped, spattered and smeared as well from 1946 to 1956. Although I don't characterixe his pictures that way. Certainly paintings like the 1951 black and white figures and Easter and The Totem are very carefully considered as are all of Pollock's and De Kooning's pictures. In fact so did Al Leslie, Sam Francis, Michael Goldberg, Milton Resnick, and Joan Mitchell drip, splash and splatter from 1950 to the early 1960s. It's considered wiki-polite to sign your edits with four of these ~ in a row. Modernist 11:23, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Expressing opinion without citation from reliable source is not acceptable in Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Citation from reliable source is required for a statement and/or for reply. (Salmon1 (talk) 17:13, 13 August 2010 (UTC))

Comment

There doesn't seem to be very much information about the "life" in the "biography." Rncooper (talk) 18:09, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Comment

De Kooning. You've got to be kidding.173.71.91.90 (talk) 00:30, 12 June 2012 (UTC)Hans Wurst