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Elaine de Kooning
John F. Kennedy, 1963 painting by Elaine de Kooning, National Portrait Gallery Washington, D. C.
Birth name	Elaine Marie Fried
Born	March 12, 1918(1918-03-12)
Died	February 1, 1989 (aged 70)
Nationality	American
Field	Painting, Abstract expressionism
Movement	East Coast Figurative painting, Abstract Expressionism
Influenced by	Willem de Kooning

Elaine Marie de Kooning (March 12, 1918 - February 1, 1989), was an abstract expressionist painter and a vibrant figure in the New York School.

Biography

Born as Elaine Marie Fried in Brooklyn, her artistic sensibility was encouraged by her mother, who took her to museums and taught her to draw what she saw. After graduating from Erasmus Hall High School then doing a brief stint at Hunter College she began to study at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, New York, in 1936, but soon transferred to the American Artists School.

In 1938, Elaine Fried was introduced to a Dutch immigrant artist, Willem de Kooning. She soon began studying with him, and approximately five years later, on December 9, 1943, they married. While her artistic reputation was eclipsed to some degree by his fame, she was able to forge a name as an artist and as a critic for ARTnews. ^[1]

Elaine de Kooning is also credited with discovering the Russian-American artist Alexander Ney (born 1939). In 1973, de Kooning and Robert Motherwell - acting as her French interpreter - encountered the young Ney's artworks at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France. When Ney immigrated to the United States in 1974, de Kooning introduced him to gallery owners and invited him to studio parties.^[2]

Her painting style is characterized by a deft line coupled with realist compression and emotionally charged abandon. Her subjects ranged from early still life to portraiture, with purely abstract paintings executed during the fifties. She held guest professorships at Yale and Carnegie Mellon University and painted the portrait of John F. Kennedy from life, for the Truman Library. Kennedy was assassinated during the creation of this work, impacting on her to such a degree that she stopped painting for nearly a year.^[3]

In the 1940s, the couple in poverty but produced an astonishing number of works. Both developed significant problems with alcohol during the late forties, and lived apart from the late fifties through the mid seventies. However, they never divorced. In 1976 Elaine overcame her alcoholism and helped Willem on his own path to sobriety.^[4]

Death

Elaine de Kooning died from lung cancer, aged 70, in 1989. Her husband, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was unaware of her passing.

References

Sources

• Grace Glueck; New York Times obituary, February 2, 1989
• Paul Schimmel; Judith E Stein; Newport Harbor Art Museum, The Figurative fifties: New York figurative expressionism (Newport Beach, California: Newport Harbor Art Museum; New York: Rizzoli, 1988); ISBN 0847809420, ISBN 9780847809424, ISBN 0917493125, ISBN 9780917493126
• Lee Hall, Elaine and Bill, portrait of a marriage : the lives of Willem and Elaine de Kooning, (New York, NY : HarperCollins Pub., ©1993.) ISBN 0060183055
• Marika Herskovic, American Abstract and Figurative Expressionism: Style Is Timely Art Is Timeless (New York School Press, 2009); ISBN 9780967799421
• Marika Herskovic, American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey, (New York School Press, 2003); ISBN 0-9677994-1-4; pp. 90-93
• Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000); ISBN 0-9677994-0-6; pp 8, 16, 25, 36, 102-105
• The Spirit of Abstract Expressionism Selected Writings; ISBN 0-8076-1337-1
• Edvard Lieber, Willem de Kooning: Reflections in the Studio, 2000, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; ISBN 0-8109-4560-6

See also

• Women in art
• New York Figurative Expressionism
• New York School
• Abstract Expressionism
• Action painting