Over the next few months we will be closely examining the lives and works of various women throughout art history. Today's discussion will conclude our two-part look into Elaine de Kooning. Her bold artistic spirit was vital to the early New York art scene and de Kooning's daringly sexual 'Faceless Men' series provided thematic inspiration for the decidedly masculine Abstract Expressionist movement. Abstract Expressionism ushered into its golden era with the dawn of the 1950s, and Elaine's evocative, gestural portraits only further solidified her influence within the movement. Her portraits were characteristic of the Abstract Expressionist's emotive and gestural style. Furthermore, she continued to write for Art News and act as both inspiration and friendly rival to her husband Willem. Despite the love and admiration she shared for her husband, Elaine found the name 'de Kooning' distasteful. In addition, she quickly noticed that when the name was mentioned, people thought of Willem before (and often instead of) her. During this time she began to sign her works with her trademark 'E de K,' allowing Elaine to maintain her identity without altogether forgoing the connection to Willem. [i] Her work bared the "mark of fierce scrutiny and fresh insight"[ii] that came to characterize the rest of her career. This intense scrutiny lead to the success of her ‘Faceless Men’ as Elaine was able to capture "what determined the character, the body language, [and] the very being of the person."[iii] Even in the most abstract of her portraits, Michel Sonnebend #1, the sitter’s character and sexual energy were successfully captured. Painted in 1951, Michel Sonnebend #1, is the most abstract and gestural of Elaine's Faceless Men. Sonnebend's face and form are merely hinted at as they are loosely outlined through application of color and line. Forced to the front of the picture plane, the figure almost dissolves into the flat background as another series of "wildly and randomly applied brushstrokes."[iv] Bold shades of blues, yellows, greens, reds and whites are juxtaposed and applied throughout the canvas in a thick impasto. Once again, Elaine omits the sitter's facial features, but this time the figure's form is barely present when compared to the earlier portrait of Al Lazar. Yet, Sonnebend is still a figure with mass. This is quite possibly Elaine's greatest challenge to the history of portraiture. She manages to capture the psyche of her subject not through their facial psychology or clothing, but through color and line. Elaine's rhythmic and kinetic application of bold colors is as much a statement of Sonnebend's personality as they are of her artistic style. In addition, she continues to emphasize her sitter's sexual energy through focusing the viewer's gaze upon Sonnebend's crotch, the lightest spot (white and pale blue) on the canvas. Through use of color and these gestural means, Elaine directly confronts "the 'male privilege' of sitting in an open-legged position,"[v] by defining it as the essence of masculinity. Ultimately, her portrait became a challenge to the intensely masculine world of Abstract Expressionism. Through the evolution of her faceless portraits, Elaine continued to play around with capturing the identity of her sitters while ignoring their unique physical features. Here in lies the success of her series of sitting, faceless men, “showing the tension between recognition and misrecognition of those portrayed: The more she attempted to represent her male sitters, the more ‘empty’ their faces became.”[vi] Elaine thrived when painting in the presence of an audience; doing so also kept her sitters lively throughout the painting process, [vii] allowing their personalities to transcend onto the canvas. She always “feared the consistency of a recognizable style,” [viii] which lead to the widely varying styles of her men. Experimenting with the rules of portraiture was love for Elaine, and she continued to do so as the series progressed. In a style altogether different than her earlier portraits of Al Lazar and Michel Sonnebend, Elaine painted her most sexually charged and identifiable male figure to date in Fairfield Porter #1. Showcasing the diversity and evolution of Elaine's portraiture is Fairfield Porter #1, painted in 1954. By far the most confrontational and erotic of her faceless men, Porter is pushed to the foreground in the signature open-leg stance. The portrait is the least abstract of her series as both figure and setting are easily identifiable and readily defined. Nonetheless, Elaine maintains her painterly application of paint throughout the canvas in dynamic, angular brushstrokes. While not as monochromatic or muted as Al Lazar #2, the color palette of Fairfield Porter #1 lacks the striking juxtapositions of color found within Michel Sonnebend #1, with its naturalistic cool tones of blues and greens and warm golden background. Color again is used to direct the viewer's attention to Porter's crotch; his tie acting as a bright red arrow. Further focusing the eye on the groin, the figure's hands are framed on either side of his inner thighs. Fairfield Porter exudes sexuality, even his empty eye sockets seem to pierce the viewer's gaze with a palpable sensual tension. Elaine’s close relationship and identification with her male sitters allowed for her to successfully render her subjects.[ix] Porter was both friend and painter, a figure whom Elaine felt comfortable subjugating as a merely sexualized object. The portrait reads as an "invitation to visually consume his sexualized body." [x] Upon completion of Fairfield Porter #1, Elaine successfully re-evaluated the historical traditions of portraiture and reversed the standard artist and model dynamic.[xi] As her career began to soar, Elaine’s marriage started to disintegrate. Willem and Elaine’s love was passionate, but explosive and destructive. Both had numerous extramarital affairs: Elaine with gallery owner Charles Egan, Harold Rosenberg and previous subject, Al Lazar; Willem with his many female models. [xii] Willem also began drinking heavily; he continued to drink until Elaine rescued him from the debilitating alcoholism many years later. [xiii] Following the completion of her Faceless Men series in 1957, Elaine accepted a teaching position at the University of New Mexico and officially separated from Willem. [xiv] Thus, began a new phase of her life and artistic career. Elaine de Kooning was no longer simply viewed as ‘the artist’s wife.’ After separating from Willem and moving to New Mexico, Elaine began her love affair with teaching (Figure 1). She viewed it as an extension of 'shop talk,' [xv] a chance to openly discuss artistic method and practice the latest techniques. During this time she travelled throughout the Southwest and Mexico, inspiring her second artistic series (Figure 2), Bullfighting (1957-1963). [xvi] She returned to New York in 1962 when she received a portrait commission for President John F. Kennedy. [xvii] (Figure 3) During her extensive career Elaine was only commissioned twice, the other for soccer phenom, Pele. [xviii] After spending the next year painting over a hundred different images of the President, Elaine went through psychological shock after Kennedy's assassination in 1963. It was over a year before she could pick up a paint brush again.[xix] Once she did, Elaine embarked on numerous other paintings including the Basketball & Baseball series, Bacchus series and her final endeavor, the Lascaux Cave series which she painted up until the year before her death. [xx] All of her works were heavily influenced by her travels throughout the world and her travels were also a direct result of her teaching career. She continued to teach throughout the world and the U.S., including U.C. Davis, the Pratt Institute and Yale. [xxi] Despite their amicable separation in 1957, Elaine and Willem moved back in together in 1977, having never officially separated. [xxii] They both owed their lives and their success to the other. Despite the poison they poured into each other's lives over their fifty years together, Elaine and Willem always maintained a mutual love and respect for one another. Sadly, Willem developed severe dementia by the 1980s as Elaine was diagnosed with lung cancer. Upon finishing her final exhibition on the Lascaux caves series, Elaine passed away on February 1, 1989. The art world mourned the loss of a revolutionary female figure; Willem was never told of her death. As a female painter and an artist's wife within the intensely masculine Abstract Expressionist movement, Elaine de Kooning has been relegated as a "parenthetical figure"[xxiii] next to her husband Willem. Often mentioned first as a critic and teacher, many forget the irreplaceable role she played as an artist within the development of the New York Art School of the 1940s and 1950s. Elaine cannot be studied within the context of traditional female portraiture for she was not a traditional painter. She challenged the notion of 'feminine' painting by creating some of the most masculine and overtly sexual imagery within one of the most masculine and sexually charged art historical movements to date. Her art also served as the inspiration to Willem's artistic genius. Thus, Elaine de Kooning was not just a woman among men, but an artist among her peers. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 i Jane K. Bledsoe, introduction to E de K: Elaine de Kooning, ed. Jane K. Bledsoe et al. (Athens: Georgia Museum of Art, 1992), 15.
ii Rose Slivka, introduction essay to Elaine de Kooning: The Spirit of Abstract Expressionism, by Elaine de Kooning, (New York: George Braziller, 1994), 25. iii Marjorie Luyckx, preface to Elaine de Kooning: The Spirit of Abstract Expressionism, by Elaine de Kooning (New York: George Braziller, 1994), 13. iv Ibid., 14. v Celia S. Stahr, "Elaine de Kooning, Portraiture and the Politics of Sexuality," Genders 38 (2003), accessed April 29, 2012, http://www.genders.org/g38/g38_stahr.html. vi Isabelle Graw, "Abstract Expressionism in America," trans. Sara Ogger, Art Forum (2001), accessed May 1, 2012, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_1_40/ai_78637320/. vii Lawrence Campbell, “The Portraits,” in E de K: Elaine de Kooning, Ed. by Jane K. Bledsoe, et al., (Athens: Georgia Museum of Art, 1992), 34. viii Ibid., 35. ix Ibid. x Celia S. Stahr, "Elaine de Kooning, Portraiture and the Politics of Sexuality," Genders 38 (2003), accessed April 29, 2012, http://www.genders.org/g38/g38_stahr.html. xi Ibid. xii Justin Wolf, “Elaine de Kooning,” The Art Study Foundation, last modified 2012, accessed April 30, 2012, http://www.theartstory.org/artist-de-kooning-elaine.html. xiii Rose Slivka, introduction essay to Elaine de Kooning: The Spirit of Abstract Expressionism, by Elaine de Kooning, (New York: George Braziller, 1994), 28. xiv Ibid. xv Ibid. xvi Ibid. 30. xvii Lawrence Campbell, “The Portraits,” in E de K: Elaine de Kooning, Ed. by Jane K. Bledsoe, et al., (Athens: Georgia Museum of Art, 1992), 34. xviii Ibid. xix Rose Slivka, introduction essay to Elaine de Kooning: The Spirit of Abstract Expressionism, by Elaine de Kooning, (New York: George Braziller, 1994), 30. xx Justin Wolf, “Elaine de Kooning,” The Art Study Foundation, last modified 2012, accessed April 30, 2012, http://www.theartstory.org/artist-de-kooning-elaine.htm. xxi Rose Slivka, introduction essay to Elaine de Kooning: The Spirit of Abstract Expressionism, by Elaine de Kooning, (New York: George Braziller, 1994), 29. xxii Justin Wolf, “Elaine de Kooning,” The Art Study Foundation, last modified 2012, accessed April 30, 2012, http://www.theartstory.org/artist-de-kooning-elaine.htm. xxiii Ann Gibson, “Lee Krasner and Women’s Innovations in American Abstract Painting,” Art Journal 28 no.2 (2007): 11, accessed April 17, 2012, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20358126.
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