Willem de Kooning: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Willem de Kooning arrived in Rotterdam-trained and Manhattan-hungry, grinding European old-master craft against American billboards, pin-ups and bebop until figure and ground collapsed into each other. This mix traces the Picasso-Soutine-Rubens spine of his looking, the thinkers and hustlers who pushed him into the New York School, and the painters still fighting with his brushstroke.

The Kynda mix for Willem de Kooning

• Key Influence · Guernica by Pablo Picasso (1937). Picasso was the measuring stick for de Kooning's whole generation, and he said as much repeatedly: the man to beat. Guernica's shattered, grimacing women — teeth, eyes and limbs rearranged across a flattened grisaille field — stands directly behind the Woman paintings of 1950-53, where anatomy is reassembled rather than described. The 1939 New York showing of Guernica at MoMA's Picasso retrospective era made the painting a daily fact of downtown studio argument.
• Influencia Obscura · System and Dialectics of Art by John D. Graham (1937). Graham, the Russian-born painter-theorist, was the catalyst of the pre-war downtown scene: he introduced de Kooning to Arshile Gorky and David Smith and argued in this book for abstraction rooted in primitivism, the unconscious and old-master craft — exactly the hybrid de Kooning pursued. Graham's advocacy of Picasso to a New York audience, plus his 1942 'American and French Paintings' show, put de Kooning in the company that became the New York School.
• Local Roots · Chief by Franz Kline (1950). Kline was de Kooning's closest downtown companion, a fellow regular at the Cedar Tavern and the Eighth Street Club, and the two traded black-and-white vocabularies in the late 1940s when de Kooning was making enamel-and-newsprint abstractions on cheap paper. Chief's girder-like black strokes on white emerged from exactly that Tenth Street conversation — reportedly sparked by seeing his small sketches enlarged by projector in de Kooning's studio.
• Beyond the Medium · Either/Or by Søren Kierkegaard (1843). Kierkegaard circulated constantly among the New York School, and de Kooning's famous resistance to finishing — his insistence that a painting stays in a state of becoming, that he paints himself out of and back into a picture — mirrors the existentialist stress on the unresolved choosing self. The postwar downtown vocabulary of anxiety, authenticity and the act, codified in Rosenberg's 'action painting', comes straight out of this reading.
• Peer · Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock (1950). Pollock was the rival and benchmark, drinking at the Cedar and showing in the same circuit; de Kooning credited him with breaking the ice for American painting. Autumn Rhythm is the all-over, gravity-poured alternative to de Kooning's hand-driven stroke, and the pair define the two poles of Abstract Expressionism that critics argued over for decades — Pollock's dissolution of the figure versus de Kooning's refusal to let it go.
• From the Canon · Excavation by Willem de Kooning (1950). The culminating black-and-ochre abstraction, shown at the 1950 Venice Biennale, where hooked anatomical shards — teeth, jaws, eyes — are locked into a dense interlocking field. It is the hinge of the career: everything from the 1940s' flattened figures compressed into a single churning surface, and the immediate springboard for the Woman series that followed, which simply let one body climb back out of the excavation.
• Key Collaborator · Portrait of John F. Kennedy by Elaine de Kooning (1963). Elaine Fried married de Kooning in 1943, modeled for him, wrote criticism that helped build the downtown argument for his work, and sustained him through the hardest years before returning to manage his late career. Her Kennedy portraits — made from life sittings in Palm Beach, figures caught mid-gesture in restless slashing strokes — show a painter working the same brush-driven, half-finished energy toward likeness rather than away from it.
• Legacy · Teenage Wildlife by Cecily Brown (2003). Brown has openly named de Kooning among her essential painters, and her canvases carry his bargain forward: bodies surfacing and submerging in whipping, candy-and-flesh colored strokes, never quite resolving into figures. Working from London to New York from the 1990s on, she reopened the gestural, erotic figure-abstraction that late-century criticism had declared exhausted, and made his method a live option again for younger painters.

What influenced Willem de Kooning

• Pablo Picasso. The article explicitly says Picasso influenced De Kooning's work. (also via Woman I, Guernica) “At this time, De Kooning's work borrowed strongly from Gorky's surrealist imagery and was influenced by Picasso .” (Wikipedia)
• Arshile Gorky. The article calls Gorky an important influence on De Kooning. (also via The Artist and His Mother) “Gorky, whom De Kooning first met at the home of Misha Reznikoff , became a close friend and, for at least ten years, an important influence.” (Wikipedia)
• Piet Mondrian (1872). Mondrian is named as an influence on De Kooning's early paintings. “They show the influence of his friends Davis, Gorky and Graham, but also of Arp , Joan Miró , Mondrian and Pablo Picasso .” (Wikipedia)
• Stuart Davis. Davis is named as an influence on De Kooning's early paintings. “They show the influence of his friends Davis, Gorky and Graham, but also of Arp , Joan Miró , Mondrian and Pablo Picasso .” (Wikipedia)
• John Graham. Graham is named as an influence on De Kooning's early paintings. “They show the influence of his friends Davis, Gorky and Graham, but also of Arp , Joan Miró , Mondrian and Pablo Picasso .” (Wikipedia)
• Edward Hopper. De Kooning is named among artists who cited Hopper as an influence. (also via Willem de Kooning) “Though he had no formal students, many artists have cited him as an influence, including Willem de Kooning , Jim Dine , and Mark Rothko .” (Wikipedia)
• Joan Miró. Miró is named as an influence on De Kooning's early paintings. “They show the influence of his friends Davis, Gorky and Graham, but also of Arp , Joan Miró , Mondrian and Pablo Picasso .” (Wikipedia)
• Jean Arp. Arp is named as an influence on De Kooning's early paintings. “They show the influence of his friends Davis, Gorky and Graham, but also of Arp , Joan Miró , Mondrian and Pablo Picasso .” (Wikipedia)
• Guernica by Pablo Picasso (1937). Guernica (Pablo Picasso) — titan for Willem de Kooning “They show the influence of his friends Davis, Gorky and Graham, but also of Arp, Joan Miró, Mondrian and Pablo Picasso.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The Three Graces by Peter Paul Rubens (1635). The Three Graces (Peter Paul Rubens) — titan for Willem de Kooning (wikidata.org)
• System and Dialectics of Art by John D. Graham (1937). System and Dialectics of Art (John D. Graham) — ghost for Willem de Kooning “Graham served as a mentor to younger artists such as Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, Willem de Kooning, and Arshile Gorky.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Carcass of Beef by Chaim Soutine (1925). Carcass of Beef (Chaim Soutine) — ghost for Willem de Kooning (wikidata.org)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Howard Hawks (1953). Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks) — culture for Willem de Kooning (themoviedb.org)
• The Bridge by Hart Crane (1930). The Bridge (Hart Crane) — culture for Willem de Kooning (openlibrary.org)
• Either/Or by Søren Kierkegaard (1843). Either/Or (Søren Kierkegaard) — culture for Willem de Kooning (openlibrary.org)
• Portrait of Madame Moitessier by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1856). Portrait of Madame Moitessier (Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres) — titan for Willem de Kooning
• Georges Braque (1882). Woman, I (Willem de Kooning) — legacy for Georges Braque (via Woman, I)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Lee Krasner. De Kooning was part of Krasner’s New York School network. (also via Woman I) “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock , Elaine de Kooning , Lee Krasner , Franz Kline , Arshile Gorky , Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann” (Wikipedia)
• Jackson Pollock. Krasner introduced Pollock to de Kooning. (also via Excavation, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)) “Group portrait of The Irascibles taken by Nina Leen, November 24, 1950, signed by Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Brooks, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walk…” (Sotheby’s)
• Elaine de Kooning. Elaine de Kooning is listed among the painters in the same New York School group. (also via Portrait of John F. Kennedy) “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock , Elaine de Kooning , Lee Krasner , Franz Kline , Arshile Gorky , Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann” (Wikipedia)
• Franz Kline (1910). Kline is listed among the painters in De Kooning's New York School group. (also via Chief) “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock , Elaine de Kooning , Lee Krasner , Franz Kline , Arshile Gorky , Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann” (Wikipedia)
• Clyfford Still. Still appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “As pictured from left rear, the captured subjects are: Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Ad Reinhardt, Hedda Sterne; (next row) Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Jimmy Ernst, Jackson Pollock, James Brooks, Clyfford Still, Robert…” (Sotheby’s)
• Adolph Gottlieb. Gottlieb appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Group portrait of The Irascibles taken by Nina Leen, November 24, 1950, signed by Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Brooks, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walk…” (Sotheby’s)
• Richard Pousette-Dart. Pousette-Dart appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Group portrait of The Irascibles taken by Nina Leen, November 24, 1950, signed by Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Brooks, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walk…” (Sotheby’s)
• Conrad Marca-Relli. Marca-Relli appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock , Elaine de Kooning , Lee Krasner , Franz Kline , Arshile Gorky , Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann , John Ferren , Nell Blaine , Conrad Marca-Relli , James Brooks” (Whitney Museum of American Art, Wikipedia entry displayed on artist page)
• James Brooks. Brooks appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Group portrait of The Irascibles taken by Nina Leen, November 24, 1950, signed by Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Brooks, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walk…” (Sotheby’s)
• Norman Lewis. Lewis appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “John Ferren , Nell Blaine , Conrad Marca-Relli , James Brooks , Adolph Gottlieb , Jack Tworkov , Norman Lewis , Anne Ryan , Robert Motherwell , Philip Guston , Clyfford Still , and Richard Pousette-Dart .” (Whitney Museum of American Art, Wikipedia entry displayed on artist page)
• Philip Guston. Guston appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, Adolph Gottlieb, Anne Ryan, Robert Motherwell, Philip Guston, Clyfford Still, and Richard Pouse…” (MacDowell)
• Robert Motherwell (1915). Motherwell appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Group portrait of The Irascibles taken by Nina Leen, November 24, 1950, signed by Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Brooks, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walk…” (Sotheby’s)
• Mark Rothko (1903). Rothko is listed among the painters in De Kooning's New York School group. (also via No. 61 (Rust and Blue)) “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock , Elaine de Kooning , Lee Krasner , Franz Kline , Arshile Gorky , Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann” (Wikipedia)
• Barnett Newman (1905). Newman and de Kooning both signed the original Irascibles group photograph. (also via Woman I) “Group portrait of The Irascibles taken by Nina Leen, November 24, 1950, signed by Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Brooks, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walk…” (Sotheby’s)
• Robert Rauschenberg. Woman I (Willem de Kooning) — geography for Robert Rauschenberg (via Woman I, Erased de Kooning Drawing) (wikidata.org)
• Hedda Sterne. Sterne and de Kooning both signed the original Irascibles group photograph. “Group portrait of The Irascibles taken by Nina Leen, November 24, 1950, signed by Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Richard Pousette-Dart, James Brooks, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Bradley Walk…” (Sotheby’s)
• The Artist and His Mother by Arshile Gorky (1936). The Artist and His Mother (Arshile Gorky) — geography for Willem de Kooning “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, John Ferren, Nell Blaine, Conrad Marca-Relli, James Brooks, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Tworkov, Norm…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Artists Union. De Kooning joined the Artists Union in 1934. “De Kooning joined the Artists Union in 1934, and in 1935 was employed in the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration” (Wikipedia)
• Anne Ryan. Ryan appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Jack Tworkov , Norman Lewis , Anne Ryan , Robert Motherwell , Philip Guston , Clyfford Still , and Richard Pousette-Dart .” (Wikipedia)
• Jack Tworkov. Tworkov appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann , John Ferren , Nell Blaine , Conrad Marca-Relli , James Brooks , Adolph Gottlieb , Jack Tworkov” (Wikipedia)
• New York School. The article explicitly places De Kooning in the New York School. “De Kooning painted in a style that came to be referred to as abstract expressionism or " action painting ", and was part of a group of artists that came to be known as the New York School .” (Wikipedia)
• Ladybug by Joan Mitchell (1957). Ladybug (Joan Mitchell) — peer for Willem de Kooning “== Early career (New York) == In 1950, Mitchell saw her first Willem de Kooning painting at the Whitney Annual.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Abstract Expressionism. The article identifies De Kooning's postwar painting with Abstract Expressionism. “De Kooning painted in a style that came to be referred to as abstract expressionism or " action painting ", and was part of a group of artists that came to be known as the New York School .” (Wikipedia)
• Erased de Kooning Drawing by Robert Rauschenberg (1953). De Kooning supplied the drawing and consented to its erasure. “Rauschenberg requested a drawing from the Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning for the express purpose of erasing it as an artistic statement. This conceptual work, titled Erased de Kooning Drawing , was executed with the eld…” (Wikipedia)
• John Ferren. Ferren appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann , John Ferren , Nell Blaine , Conrad Marca-Relli , James Brooks , Adolph Gottlieb , Jack Tworkov” (Wikipedia)
• Nell Blaine. Blaine appears in the article's list of painters in De Kooning's group. “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock , Elaine de Kooning , Lee Krasner , Franz Kline , Arshile Gorky , Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann , John Ferren , Nell Blaine , Conrad Marca-Relli” (Whitney Museum of American Art, Wikipedia entry displayed on artist page)
• Federal Art Project. De Kooning worked for the Federal Art Project. “De Kooning joined the Artists Union in 1934, and in 1935 was employed in the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration” (Wikipedia)
• Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock (1950). Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) (Jackson Pollock) — peer for Willem de Kooning “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, John Ferren, Nell Blaine, Conrad Marca-Relli, James Brooks, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Tworkov, Norm…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Hans Hofmann. Hofmann is listed among the painters in De Kooning's New York School group. “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock , Elaine de Kooning , Lee Krasner , Franz Kline , Arshile Gorky , Mark Rothko , Hans Hofmann” (Wikipedia)
• New York, New York by Milton Resnick (1955). New York, New York (Milton Resnick) — geography for Willem de Kooning “In 1938 Resnick met Willem de Kooning, likely introduced to him by his erstwhile girlfriend, Elaine Fried.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• The American Action Painters by Harold Rosenberg (1952). The American Action Painters (Harold Rosenberg) — collaborator for Willem de Kooning “Critic Harold Rosenberg wrote ..."From 1940 to the present, Woman has manifested herself in De Kooning's paintings and drawings as at once the focus of desire, frustration, inner conflict, pleasure...” (en.wikipedia.org)
• No. 61 (Rust and Blue) by Mark Rothko (1953). No. 61 (Rust and Blue) (Mark Rothko) — peer for Willem de Kooning “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, John Ferren, Nell Blaine, Conrad Marca-Relli, James Brooks, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Tworkov, Norm…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Portrait of John F. Kennedy by Elaine de Kooning (1963). Portrait of John F. Kennedy (Elaine de Kooning) — collaborator for Willem de Kooning “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, John Ferren, Nell Blaine, Conrad Marca-Relli, James Brooks, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Tworkov, Norm…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Chief by Franz Kline (1950). Chief (Franz Kline) — geography for Willem de Kooning “Other painters in this group included Jackson Pollock, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, John Ferren, Nell Blaine, Conrad Marca-Relli, James Brooks, Adolph Gottlieb, Jack Tworkov, Norm…” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Rudy Burckhardt: Photographs of New York by Rudy Burckhardt (1940). Rudy Burckhardt: Photographs of New York (Rudy Burckhardt) — collaborator for Willem de Kooning

Who Willem de Kooning influenced

• Roy Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein connects his brushstroke paintings to the idea of making a work referencing de Kooning. (via Willem de Kooning) “I got the idea very early because of the Mondrian and Picasso paintings which inevitably led to the idea of a de Kooning. The brush strokes obviously refer to Abstract Expressionism.” (Artforum)
• Teenage Wildlife by Cecily Brown (2003). Teenage Wildlife (Cecily Brown) — legacy for Willem de Kooning “Her style displays the influence of a variety of contemporary painters, from Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon and Joan Mitchell, to Old Masters like Rubens, Poussin and Goya.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Loa by Albert Oehlen (1988). Loa (Albert Oehlen) — legacy for Willem de Kooning
• Elephant by Amy Sillman (2005). Elephant (Amy Sillman) — legacy for Willem de Kooning