Kooning Willem Stevens Mark Swan (5 results)

Softcover, 732 pages, poor condition, brown stain to outer page edge opposite spine; right edge of cover worn with first few pages curled / dog-eared; no internal marks. As is. Foreign shipping may be extra.

Hardcover biography with dustjacket, 732 pages, very good condition, light rubbing to dj; no internal marks. Foreign shipping may be extra.

[1-4000-4175-9] 2005, 5th printing. (hardcover) Near fine in near fine dust jacket. xvii, [2], 731+. 8vo. The first major biography of the artist and one which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2004); The National Book Critics Circle Awards (2004); the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography (2005); the Ambassador Book Award (2005). Jacket shows faint wear at the uppe edge and has been graced with a gold 'Winner of the Pulitzer Prize' sticker to the front. The book has short inked lines next to random passages up to page 40; all text remains clean and the book itself is fine. Black and white photographs. Full colour plates. Very nice copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine(-). Stated First Edition. xvii, 731, [1] pages: illustrations (some color); 24 cm; bibliographical references (pages 631-706) and index. Contents: Holland -- The immigrant -- Recognitions -- An American Master -- Springs -- Twilight. "Traces the career of abstract expressionist Willem De Kooning, discussing his personal life with wife Elaine Fried, and his battle with alcoholism and Alzheimer's disease. The first major biography of de Kooning captures both the life and work of this complex, romantic figure in American culture. Ten years in the making, and based on previously unseen letters and documents as well as on hundreds of interviews, this is a fresh, richly detailed, and masterful portrait. The young de Kooning overcame an unstable, impoverished, and often violent early family life to enter the Academie in Rotterdam, where he learned both classic art and guild techniques. Arriving in New York as a stowaway from Holland in 1926, he underwent a long struggle to become a painter and an American, developing a passionate friendship with his fellow immigrant Arshile Gorky, who was both a mentor and an inspiration. During the Depression, de Kooning emerged as a central figure in the bohemian world of downtown New York, surviving by doing commercial work and painting murals for the WPA. His first show at the Egan Gallery in 1948 was a revelation. Soon, the critics Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess were championing his work, and de Kooning took his place as the charismatic leader of the New York school--just as American art began to dominate the international scene. Dashingly handsome and treated like a movie star on the streets of downtown New York, de Kooning had a tumultuous marriage to Elaine de Kooning, herself a fascinating character of the period. At the height of his fame, he spent his days painting powerful abstractions and intense, disturbing pictures of the female figure--and his nights living on the edge, drinking, womanizing, and talking at the Cedar bar with such friends as Franz Kline and Frank O'Hara. By the 1960s, exhausted by the feverish art world, he retreated to the Springs on Long Island, where he painted an extraordinary series of lush pastorals. In the 1980s, as he slowly declined into what was almost certainly Alzheimer's, he created a vast body of haunting and ethereal late work. This is an authoritative and brilliant exploration of the art, life, and world of an American master. " -Publisher Artistes -- États-Unis -- Biographies. Artists -- United States -- Biography. Artists. Kunstschilders. Artists -- United States -- Biography. Named Person: De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997. De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997. De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997. De Kooning, Willem, De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997 De Kooning, Willem 1904-1997 De Kooning, Willem, 1904- De Kooning, Willem -- biographie. De Kooning, Willem. Biographie. Biographies. Biografie. Biographies. Biographie (Descripteur de forme) Biographies. Biographie. Geographic: United States. Near fine(+) in near fine(-) jacket in archival mylar. Jacket spine lightly sunned. Binding tight; leaves clean.

Amsterdam, Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, 2006, 784 pag., coloured plates, b/w illustrations, text in Dutch, hardcover with dustjacket (as new). = Dat het Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) aardig is gelukt om de grootste kunstenaar, de grootste minnaar en de grootste drinker te worden wordt wel duidelijk uit deze indringende biografie. Zeker is dat De Kooning een van de belangrijkste kunstenaars van de 20e eeuw is; de sleutelfiguur van de revolutionaire Amerikaanse beweging van het abstract-expressionisme. De Kooning: Een Amerikaanse meester gaat in op alle aspecten van het leven en het werk van deze gecompliceerde, getormenteerde schilder: de armoedige jeugd in Rotterdam, de emigratie naar Amerika, zijn verwoede pogingen kunstenaar te worden, de rol van de kunsthandelaren Peggy Guggenheim en Leo Castelli, de hechte vriendschap met leermeester Arshile Gorky, zijn promiscuïteit, de alcoholverslaving, de relatie met vriend en rivaal Jackson Pollock, het tumultueuze huwelijk met Elaine, de depressies, zijn doorbraak en het grote succes, de verhuizing naar Long Island, en ten slotte de dementie en de vrienden en assistenten die hem overeind hielden en zorgden voor continuïteit in zijn werk. De Amerikaanse editie van deze schitterende biografie is bekroond met de Pulitzer Prize 2005.