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Lot Essay
While taking part in the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy in 1969, Willem de Kooning met his old friend from New York, the sculptor Herzl Emanuel, and began to work on a series of clay figures inspired by what he witnessed in Emanuel’s foundry in Rome. This encounter was the catalyst for the artist's brief but passionate exploration of a medium that seemed like a natural progression from his gestural paintings. During this time, De Kooning produced a group of thirteen small sculptures, and later in New York, he selected three pieces from this group for enlargement, Seated Woman is one of these three. Throughout these works the artist's distinctive touch is visible, creating palpable, three-dimensional versions of his renowned paintings.
Following his foray into sculpture, de Kooning quickly became excited about the medium: “You can work and work on a painting,” he said “but you can’t start over again with the canvas like it was before you put that first stroke down. And sometimes, in the end, it’s no good, no matter what you do. But with clay, I cover it with a wet cloth and come back down to it the next morning and if I don’t like what I did, or changed my mind, I can break it down and start over. It’s always fresh” (W. de Kooning, quoted in J. Elderfield, de Kooning: A Retrospective, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011, p. 411). De Kooning’s sculptures, centered on the human form, parallel the figurative focus of his famous Woman series. His sculptures can be seen as continuing explorations of these paintings in three dimensional form, confronting and creating a closer engagement with the figure. De Kooning’s interest in the tactility of flesh—it’s elasticity, malleability—is evident in his sculptures, which blazon the distinct traces of the artist’s hand and its actions—kneading, molding, pressing—appealing to the viewer’s sense of touch as well as sight and reflecting the intrinsic rhythms and natural movements of the human body. Seated Woman, like de Kooning’s other works, reflects the physical investment in a work’s process of creation. One senses the rhythms and movements of the artist's process, captured in the form of the sculpture.
De Kooning’s sculptures are characteristic of his paintings; his distinctive strokes create a sincerity: the complete trust in his own unconscious impulses. His sculptures are turbulent and tactile—one could argue that to fully experience the sculpture would be to touch it. Evident in de Kooning’s works, a single stroke of paint on canvas or an indentation across a figure’s chest can command the viewer greater than the painting or sculpture itself.
Seated Woman recalls the sensuality of Rodin’s works, the existentialism of Giacometti’s figures, and the overall respect of the forces of gravity. However, the uniqueness of this work, as with the rest of de Kooning’s sculptures, lies in its indefinability—his works are neither purely figurative nor abstract but straddle the boundary between the two; they suggest the form of the human body, mutated by the distinctive touch of the artist. This intermediary form encapsulates de Kooning’s touch realized in physical space, bringing the canvas’ kinetic energy into three dimensions.
Following his foray into sculpture, de Kooning quickly became excited about the medium: “You can work and work on a painting,” he said “but you can’t start over again with the canvas like it was before you put that first stroke down. And sometimes, in the end, it’s no good, no matter what you do. But with clay, I cover it with a wet cloth and come back down to it the next morning and if I don’t like what I did, or changed my mind, I can break it down and start over. It’s always fresh” (W. de Kooning, quoted in J. Elderfield, de Kooning: A Retrospective, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011, p. 411). De Kooning’s sculptures, centered on the human form, parallel the figurative focus of his famous Woman series. His sculptures can be seen as continuing explorations of these paintings in three dimensional form, confronting and creating a closer engagement with the figure. De Kooning’s interest in the tactility of flesh—it’s elasticity, malleability—is evident in his sculptures, which blazon the distinct traces of the artist’s hand and its actions—kneading, molding, pressing—appealing to the viewer’s sense of touch as well as sight and reflecting the intrinsic rhythms and natural movements of the human body. Seated Woman, like de Kooning’s other works, reflects the physical investment in a work’s process of creation. One senses the rhythms and movements of the artist's process, captured in the form of the sculpture.
De Kooning’s sculptures are characteristic of his paintings; his distinctive strokes create a sincerity: the complete trust in his own unconscious impulses. His sculptures are turbulent and tactile—one could argue that to fully experience the sculpture would be to touch it. Evident in de Kooning’s works, a single stroke of paint on canvas or an indentation across a figure’s chest can command the viewer greater than the painting or sculpture itself.
Seated Woman recalls the sensuality of Rodin’s works, the existentialism of Giacometti’s figures, and the overall respect of the forces of gravity. However, the uniqueness of this work, as with the rest of de Kooning’s sculptures, lies in its indefinability—his works are neither purely figurative nor abstract but straddle the boundary between the two; they suggest the form of the human body, mutated by the distinctive touch of the artist. This intermediary form encapsulates de Kooning’s touch realized in physical space, bringing the canvas’ kinetic energy into three dimensions.