id: 140089
accession number: 1964.1
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.1
updated: 2023-03-15 15:04:15.581000
Figure, 1949. Willem de Kooning (American, 1904–1997). Oil on cardboard; framed: 55 x 44.5 x 8 cm (21 5/8 x 17 1/2 x 3 1/8 in.); unframed: 46.7 x 36.8 cm (18 3/8 x 14 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1964.1 © The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
title: Figure
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1949
creation date earliest: 1949
creation date latest: 1949
current location:
creditline: Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art
copyright: © The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
---
culture: America, 20th century
technique: oil on cardboard
department: American Painting and Sculpture
collection: American - Painting
type: Painting
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
---
CREATORS
* Willem de Kooning (American, 1904–1997) - artist
---
measurements: Framed: 55 x 44.5 x 8 cm (21 5/8 x 17 1/2 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 46.7 x 36.8 cm (18 3/8 x 14 1/2 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: Signed lower left: de Kooning
translation:
remark:
---
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Year in Review (1964)
opening date: 1964-12-08T05:00:00
Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).
title: Juxtapositions
opening date: 1965-09-11T04:00:00
Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
title: Willem de Kooning: Pittsburgh International Series
opening date: 1979-10-26T04:00:00
Willem de Kooning: Pittsburgh International Series. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (organizer) (October 26, 1979-January 6, 1980).
title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum
opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00
Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
title: Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure
opening date: 2002-02-10T00:00:00
Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (February 10-April 28, 2002); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (June 27-September 8, 2002); National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (September 29, 2002-January 5, 2003).
title: Willem de Kooning Retrospective
opening date: 2011-09-18T00:00:00
Willem de Kooning Retrospective. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 18, 2011-January 9, 2012).
---
LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* CMA, December, 1964: "Year in Review 1964," CMA Bulletin LI (December, 1964), p. 266, no. 163.
Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Museum of Art, October 26, 1979 - January 6, 1980: "Willem de Kooning: Pittsburgh International Series," catalogue no. 13, reproduced p. 44.
CMA, November 1, 1983 - January 8, 1984: "The Figure: deKooning to Warhol," no catalogue
CMA, June 7 - September 8, 1991: "Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum," no catalogue
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, May 8 - September 5, 1994: "Willem de Kooning: Paintings," catalogue no. 24, reproduced color p. 123.
Also to: New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 6, 1994 - January 8, 1995; London: The Tate Gallery, February 15 - May 7, 1995
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 2/10/02-4/24/02; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 6/15/02-9/8/02; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 9/29/02-1/5/03. "Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure," pl. 27.
Museum of Modern Art, NYC (9/18/2011 - 1/9/2012): "Willem de Kooning Retrospective"
---
PROVENANCE
---
fun fact:
De Kooning once famously stated, "Flesh was the reason oil painting was invented."
digital description:
By using rough, hasty brushstrokes, de Kooning gives us a glimpse into his process. He painted many women during the 1940s and 1950s, each time emphasizing the action of painting in his depictions of the female form.
wall description:
Throughout his long and prolific career, de Kooning worked in both abstraction and figuration, easily shuttling back and forth between the two styles. One of his early famed "Woman" pictures, the aggressively painted Figure features visible compositional changes - such as the sitter's multiple right arms - revealing that de Kooning's art is fundamentally about process.
---
RELATED WORKS
---
CITATIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” February 19, 1964, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
page number:
url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr1209
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: p. 200
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n224
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page number: Reproduced: p. 200
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n224
Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969.
page number: Mentioned: p. 3
url: https://archive.org/details/20thCenturyArtCMA/page/n3/
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page number: Reproduced: p. 250
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n270
---
IMAGES