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Lot 44
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Untitled III
Closed12 November 2014
Price Realised
USD 14,725,000
More Information
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Untitled III
signed ‘de Kooning’ (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
76 5/8 x 87 3/8 in. (194.6 x 221.9 cm)
Painted in 1978.
Untitled III
signed ‘de Kooning’ (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
76 5/8 x 87 3/8 in. (194.6 x 221.9 cm)
Painted in 1978.
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Untitled III
signed ‘de Kooning’ (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
76 5/8 x 87 3/8 in. (194.6 x 221.9 cm)
Painted in 1978.
Untitled III
signed ‘de Kooning’ (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
76 5/8 x 87 3/8 in. (194.6 x 221.9 cm)
Painted in 1978.
Estate of Willem de Kooning, New York
Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich
Private collection
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Private collection, New York
L&M Arts, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich
Private collection
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Private collection, New York
L&M Arts, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
E. Lieber, Willem de Kooning: Reflections in the Studio, New York, 2000, p. 8 (illustrated in color).
Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, The 36th Corcoran Biennial, February-April 1979.
New York, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, May-June 1979, no. 53.
Pittsburgh Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Eduardo Chillida/Willem de Kooning, Pittsburgh International Series, October 1979-January 1980, p. 95, no. 64 (illustrated).
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Biennial, February-April 1981, p. 32, no. 60.
East Hampton, Guild Hall, Willem de Kooning: Works from 1961-1981, May-July 1981, p. 21, no. 34.
New York, Vista Hotel, World Trade Center, Installation for visit by the Queen of Holland, April 1982.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Berlin, Akademie der Künste and Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Willem de Kooning. Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture, December 1983-September 1984, p. 232, no. 249 (illustrated in color).
Nassau County Museum of Art, Landscape of America: The Hudson River School to Abstract Expressionism, November 1991-February 1992, p. 61 (illustrated in color).
Basel, Kunstmuseum, Willem de Kooning. Paintings 1960-1980, September 2005-January 2006, pp. 158-159, no. 31 (illustrated in color).
New York, L&M Arts, de Kooning: Paintings and Drawings, July-September 2008.
New York, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, May-June 1979, no. 53.
Pittsburgh Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Eduardo Chillida/Willem de Kooning, Pittsburgh International Series, October 1979-January 1980, p. 95, no. 64 (illustrated).
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Biennial, February-April 1981, p. 32, no. 60.
East Hampton, Guild Hall, Willem de Kooning: Works from 1961-1981, May-July 1981, p. 21, no. 34.
New York, Vista Hotel, World Trade Center, Installation for visit by the Queen of Holland, April 1982.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Berlin, Akademie der Künste and Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Willem de Kooning. Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture, December 1983-September 1984, p. 232, no. 249 (illustrated in color).
Nassau County Museum of Art, Landscape of America: The Hudson River School to Abstract Expressionism, November 1991-February 1992, p. 61 (illustrated in color).
Basel, Kunstmuseum, Willem de Kooning. Paintings 1960-1980, September 2005-January 2006, pp. 158-159, no. 31 (illustrated in color).
New York, L&M Arts, de Kooning: Paintings and Drawings, July-September 2008.
With dazzlingly fluid gestures, Willem de Kooning creates a roiling pictorial space filled with roaming bands of color created from a palette that gracefully fluctuates through a range of blues, yellows, whites, and grays. As light radiates from the canvas, nimble transitions between variegated blues – ultramarine, Prussian, and cobalt – transform into veridian green as yellow is introduced, lending a sense of vitality to the field. With incremental permutations, whites move into grays that cut through and weave a pool of sumptuous impasto lightly accented with soft blue diffused with black. A synthesis of liquescence and color contours, of parts fused into a single expansive field, Untitled III is developed much like the land- and seascapes that surrounded de Kooning on the East End of Long Island. As he told the critic Howard Rosenberg in 1972, “When the light hits the ocean, there is kind of a gray light on the water… Indescribable tones, almost. I started working with them and instead that they would give me the kind of light I wanted” (W. de Kooning, “Transcript of an interview with de Kooning,” H. Rosenberg papers, the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 1971, published as “Interview with Willem de Kooning,” Artnews 81, no. 5 (September), p. 58).
By the 1970s, de Kooning not only loaded his canvases with paint and scraped them down, but also undertook an under-drawing process in carbon-laden pigment, which virtually effaced the primed canvas. The fluidity of the overpainted pigmented lines and the softness of the overall surface texture is due to de Kooning having sanded the paint down, creating the slight blur of atmosphere so prized in works from this period. De Kooning’s habit of rotating his canvases as he worked can be seen in the multidirectional brush strokes and drips that add to the rhythmic movement of whole. Along with rotation, de Kooning would add non-drying solvents to the paint in order to obtain the sumptuous wet-on-wet effect, dipping the loaded brush into wet color, blending it into new colors as pigment is twisted and folded again and again.
In 1970, his dealer Xavier Fourcade took de Kooning to Japan, where they stayed near Mount Fuji and explored not only the area around it but also Japanese drawing in ink, in particular the calligraphic marks that he rephrased in an attempt to extend his mastery of line and tone. Untitled III carries over the shift in texture from opaque to virtually transparent tonality in the greys and blues in particular, as if the artist had absorbed the style of Sumi-e brush painting, as for example in the lithograph owned by the Museum of Modern Art, Wah Kee Spare Ribs, 1970, a medium with which de Kooning was preoccupied in the early years of the decade. Here, de Kooning expresses sensitivity to tonal line and control of contour, seen particularly in a motif he employed in the lithograph, a schematized sun in Study for Stenographer, 1948, and in the present work – the oval from which several lines radiate.
During the years 1970 to 1974, de Kooning was absorbed in sculptural work, but by 1975, the artist had resumed his focus on painting, embarking on a series of which the present work forms a part. In them all, abstracted rhythms and undulating strokes describe a fluid network of lambent color, such as we see in Untitled III, all spread over large-scale canvases generally measuring 80 x 70 or 80 x 77. A year after its completion, Untitled III would be featured in a retrospective exhibition for the Pittsburgh International Series. Untitled III was among the works for which de Kooning won the Andrew W. Mellon Prize (shared with Eduoardo Chillida) for that year (Willem de Kooning Pittsburgh International Series, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, 1979-1980). The work was celebrated at the time for the sheer velocity of movement with which the eye roves the canvas, pointing to de Kooning’s interest in creating simultaneous foci, what art historian John Elderfield describes as “multiple centers of interest, and therefore a continual distraction, of vision being shuttled about the surface, so that it may rest anywhere but can settle nowhere” (J. Elderfield, “Space to Paint,” de Kooning: a Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011, p. 25).
Drawing and contour take primacy in Untitled III, a lyrical essay in color, light, and luxuriant texture, where fields of color are bounded by chromatic bands, where, in essence, strands of viscous paint appear as drawn lines of jewel-like coloration. The color reflects light off a seascape of blues and greens, the froth of tumbling waves white against a graying sky. In Untitled III, there are no obvious “hot spots,” de Kooning’s phrase for what the artist considered “a disturbing quality in the paint,” which constrains the eye to rest on a particular element in the painting. Untitled III invites the eye to wander, to settle into the sumptuous impasto, to be lead among the swells and dips of pulsating banded brushstrokes.
Untitled III is among a series of paintings made in the late 1970s that convey a keen sense of place – the atmospheres of ocean and the sky in East Hampton. “The color is influenced by the natural light. That’s what is so good here (W. de Kooning, quoted in C. Willard, “In the Art Galleries,” New York Post, August 23, 1964, p. 44). The soft, voluptuous colors and textures of glue-greens and melting whites and yellows summon the out of door ambiance of natural light. “The grey-green grass, the beach grass, and the ocean was a kind of steely grey most of the time. When the light hits the ocean there is a kind of grey light on the water… Indescribable tones, almost. I started working with them and insisted that they would give me the kind of light I wanted. One was lighting up the grass. That became that kind of green. One was lighting up the water. That became that grey… I did very well with that. I got into painting in the atmosphere I wanted to be in. It was like the reflection of light. I reflected upon the reflection on the water….” (W. de Kooning, quoted in Harold Rosenberg, “Interview with Willem de Kooning," Art News Vol. 71, no. 5, September 1972, p. 56).
Curator and art historian Jack Cowart observed that 1978, the year Untitled III was created, marked a new moment in de Kooning’s creative life. It was a moment when de Kooning turned to what he called the tableaux: “forcefully composed paintings with ideas of less frontal or variously posed figures in a well defined landscape space” (J. Cowart, “De Kooning Today,” de Kooning 1969 – 78, Gallery of Art, University of Northern Iowa, 1978, p. 15). By the time Untitled III was featured with three other paintings of the “Untitled series” (I, IV) in the 1981 Whitney Biennial, it was clear that Untitled III was among the most scintillating of the master’s tableaux, a “landscape” from a catalytic moment in his by-then five-decade long career. De Kooning said that he was more of a “novelist than a poet,” by which he meant that his work details a narration – much as a tableau – a canvas filled with incidents and forms that “ have the emotion of a concrete experience.” De Kooning said he was “happy to see that the grass is green…. Content is a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash….” (W. de Kooning, “Content is a Glimpse…” rpt. Willem de Kooning, Pittsburgh International Series, op. cit, p. 24). Untitled III offers an encounter with one of the great masters of twentieth-century art, a window into his relationship with nature, with the land and sea as he transcribed it simply by brushing wet paint into wet paint.
By the 1970s, de Kooning not only loaded his canvases with paint and scraped them down, but also undertook an under-drawing process in carbon-laden pigment, which virtually effaced the primed canvas. The fluidity of the overpainted pigmented lines and the softness of the overall surface texture is due to de Kooning having sanded the paint down, creating the slight blur of atmosphere so prized in works from this period. De Kooning’s habit of rotating his canvases as he worked can be seen in the multidirectional brush strokes and drips that add to the rhythmic movement of whole. Along with rotation, de Kooning would add non-drying solvents to the paint in order to obtain the sumptuous wet-on-wet effect, dipping the loaded brush into wet color, blending it into new colors as pigment is twisted and folded again and again.
In 1970, his dealer Xavier Fourcade took de Kooning to Japan, where they stayed near Mount Fuji and explored not only the area around it but also Japanese drawing in ink, in particular the calligraphic marks that he rephrased in an attempt to extend his mastery of line and tone. Untitled III carries over the shift in texture from opaque to virtually transparent tonality in the greys and blues in particular, as if the artist had absorbed the style of Sumi-e brush painting, as for example in the lithograph owned by the Museum of Modern Art, Wah Kee Spare Ribs, 1970, a medium with which de Kooning was preoccupied in the early years of the decade. Here, de Kooning expresses sensitivity to tonal line and control of contour, seen particularly in a motif he employed in the lithograph, a schematized sun in Study for Stenographer, 1948, and in the present work – the oval from which several lines radiate.
During the years 1970 to 1974, de Kooning was absorbed in sculptural work, but by 1975, the artist had resumed his focus on painting, embarking on a series of which the present work forms a part. In them all, abstracted rhythms and undulating strokes describe a fluid network of lambent color, such as we see in Untitled III, all spread over large-scale canvases generally measuring 80 x 70 or 80 x 77. A year after its completion, Untitled III would be featured in a retrospective exhibition for the Pittsburgh International Series. Untitled III was among the works for which de Kooning won the Andrew W. Mellon Prize (shared with Eduoardo Chillida) for that year (Willem de Kooning Pittsburgh International Series, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, 1979-1980). The work was celebrated at the time for the sheer velocity of movement with which the eye roves the canvas, pointing to de Kooning’s interest in creating simultaneous foci, what art historian John Elderfield describes as “multiple centers of interest, and therefore a continual distraction, of vision being shuttled about the surface, so that it may rest anywhere but can settle nowhere” (J. Elderfield, “Space to Paint,” de Kooning: a Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011, p. 25).
Drawing and contour take primacy in Untitled III, a lyrical essay in color, light, and luxuriant texture, where fields of color are bounded by chromatic bands, where, in essence, strands of viscous paint appear as drawn lines of jewel-like coloration. The color reflects light off a seascape of blues and greens, the froth of tumbling waves white against a graying sky. In Untitled III, there are no obvious “hot spots,” de Kooning’s phrase for what the artist considered “a disturbing quality in the paint,” which constrains the eye to rest on a particular element in the painting. Untitled III invites the eye to wander, to settle into the sumptuous impasto, to be lead among the swells and dips of pulsating banded brushstrokes.
Untitled III is among a series of paintings made in the late 1970s that convey a keen sense of place – the atmospheres of ocean and the sky in East Hampton. “The color is influenced by the natural light. That’s what is so good here (W. de Kooning, quoted in C. Willard, “In the Art Galleries,” New York Post, August 23, 1964, p. 44). The soft, voluptuous colors and textures of glue-greens and melting whites and yellows summon the out of door ambiance of natural light. “The grey-green grass, the beach grass, and the ocean was a kind of steely grey most of the time. When the light hits the ocean there is a kind of grey light on the water… Indescribable tones, almost. I started working with them and insisted that they would give me the kind of light I wanted. One was lighting up the grass. That became that kind of green. One was lighting up the water. That became that grey… I did very well with that. I got into painting in the atmosphere I wanted to be in. It was like the reflection of light. I reflected upon the reflection on the water….” (W. de Kooning, quoted in Harold Rosenberg, “Interview with Willem de Kooning," Art News Vol. 71, no. 5, September 1972, p. 56).
Curator and art historian Jack Cowart observed that 1978, the year Untitled III was created, marked a new moment in de Kooning’s creative life. It was a moment when de Kooning turned to what he called the tableaux: “forcefully composed paintings with ideas of less frontal or variously posed figures in a well defined landscape space” (J. Cowart, “De Kooning Today,” de Kooning 1969 – 78, Gallery of Art, University of Northern Iowa, 1978, p. 15). By the time Untitled III was featured with three other paintings of the “Untitled series” (I, IV) in the 1981 Whitney Biennial, it was clear that Untitled III was among the most scintillating of the master’s tableaux, a “landscape” from a catalytic moment in his by-then five-decade long career. De Kooning said that he was more of a “novelist than a poet,” by which he meant that his work details a narration – much as a tableau – a canvas filled with incidents and forms that “ have the emotion of a concrete experience.” De Kooning said he was “happy to see that the grass is green…. Content is a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash….” (W. de Kooning, “Content is a Glimpse…” rpt. Willem de Kooning, Pittsburgh International Series, op. cit, p. 24). Untitled III offers an encounter with one of the great masters of twentieth-century art, a window into his relationship with nature, with the land and sea as he transcribed it simply by brushing wet paint into wet paint.
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Please note that the correct provenance for this lot is:
Estate of Willem de Kooning, New York
Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich
Private collection
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Private collection, New York
L&M Arts, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estate of Willem de Kooning, New York
Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich
Private collection
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Private collection, New York
L&M Arts, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner