Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)

"It has become obvious over the years that the human figure is the real center of his art… The sculpture helps us to see this… Differentiations of contour and texture, and potentials for action, dominate. Space takes on the scale of the body itself." (Andrew Forge, "de Kooning's Sculpture," Willem de Kooning: Sculpture, New York, 1996, p. 37)

Executed in 1973, Willem de Kooning’s Head III recalls the distorted figures from the artist’s most celebrated paintings. Championed for originally having claimed “flesh is the reason why oil paint was invented,” de Kooning’s transcending theme of figuration lead to an obvious fascination in the three dimensional form. De Kooning’s Head III is part of a series of small scale works reminiscent of the artist’s trip to Rome where the artist was invited to a bronze factory. Working with sculptor Herzl Emanuel, de Kooning created these works with a figurative mindset that he referred to as “painting in three dimensions.” The exaggerated and dense figuration of de Kooning’s hand sophisticatedly takes physical form molded in dark bronze. Its molten physicality and fluid-like shape brings forward the artists’ masterful use of dimension and movement. This bronze casts fuses and surfaces, in physical form, de Kooning’s signature gestural strokes vibrantly evident in his paintings. Coated in a glistening layer, Head III reconfigures the conventional forms of sculpture while visually enticing the viewer with its external shine. While de Kooning only produced a few sculptures, the physical nature of Head III imbues the artist’s unrivaled gestural technique, and is highly emblematic of de Kooning’s renowned oeuvre and rigorous study of the human form.