De Kooning and Rosenberg
Both Willem de Kooning and Harold Rosenberg are well known in the art and specifically in the art called abstract expressionism. This art movement developed in America between the 1940s and 1950s. The kind of art the artists in this movement did put America on the international stage and dimmed the light for Paris, which had been the center of art in the world. The artists included those who “filled their canvases with fields of color and abstract forms, but also those who attacked their canvases with vigorous gestural expressionism” (Wolf 1). The paper will focus on Rosenberg and de Kooning’s key terms and concepts of their approaches in viewing and making the art. In addition, explain whether they approach art in the same way or different ways as well.
De Kooning’s key terms and concepts of approach in viewing and making the art
De Kooning was prominent and the most celebrated abstract expressionist artist. His works characterize “the vigorous gestural style of the movement” (Willem de Kooning 1). His paintings combined the style of surrealism, expressionism and cubism. He was biased in painting traditional subjects although he also did abstract pictures that increased his reputation. His most famous work was the paintings of women. After these paintings, he did pictures of landscapes that were highly acclaimed.
He felt that categorizing art into movements restricted it and thus he aimed not to be confined by those restrictions. This is the reason why he continued to paint human subjects. His pictures of women show his blending of figuration and gestural abstraction, which was due to the influence of cubism. De Kooning’s pictures of women were always in progress because he would dismember and reassemble thus distorting the figures. He always reworked his canvases and his works had the impression of dynamic incompletion. The paintings seemed to be always in a movement towards a definition. He reinforces Rosenberg’s idea of action painting because his works were like records of an ongoing encounter instead of finished works.
His paintings “flattened the pictorial space …. And simplified the color” (Willem de Kooning 1). The figure could be identified in his works although in Pink Angels the figure was difficult to separate from the background as it was dispersed on the canvas. Thus, he developed a unique style of painting that had a complex relationship between the ground and the figure. His works of the women series bring out this characteristic very well.
De Kooning’s approach in making art was different from the norm because he kept on working on a picture until he felt he was satisfied with the result. In an article titled ”Willem de Kooning paints a picture” by Thomas Hess he attempted to study how de Kooning painted his pictures and said” the picture’s creation as a voyage that involved hundreds of revisions and was only completed minutes before the work was loaded onto the truck to go to the gallery” (Willem de Kooning 1). This painter suppressed the narrative and figure of the picture. Commenting on this reintroduction of the figure the art critic Clement Greenberg felt this was a wrong direction thus a backward step. In retaliation, de Kooning asked what the problem was with his paintings as according to him painting was about freedom. Thus, he approached art as an expression of freedom (Storr 1). This explains why he painted the way he did and in the process raised a lot of controversies. He was not going to be confined to the conventions of art rather he would use art to express himself. He said, “I don’t paint with ideas of art in mind. I see something that excites me. It becomes my content” (Willem de Kooning 1).
Rosenberg’s key terms and concepts of approach in viewing and making the art.
Harold Rosenberg was among the most incisive supporters of abstract expressionism. His essay called The American Action Painters put the abstract expression movement on the map and compared artists such as Willem de Kooning to an existentialist fighting for self-expression. His writing focused on the thematic and expressive essence of artworks (Harold Rosenberg 1).
He described abstract expressionism as action painting. The painter expressed a creative process on the canvas. Action painting meant that the artists expressed themselves and their individuality rather than focus following the conventions of beauty set out in the society (Panero 1). The artists were free to express themselves on the canvas thus expressing their emotions and feelings. To Rosenberg, the canvas was stage upon which an artist has to act. The process of painting on the canvas was a process of expressing an event and therefore the result was not only a picture. He felt that the expressionist artists were recording the moment they were in on the canvas. Thus by looking at the painting one would tell what was going on with the artist.
His approach in viewing and making art was existentialist because he was of the view that an individual had a right to express him or herself and break away from the norm of the society, which was that art was to serve the society. Through this kind of art, an artist found a medium to express themselves as well as their opinions. His work was apolitical in his capacity as an editor for a leftist press. He was bringing politics to art and had political expectations of it bringing in a liberal aesthetic. He saw art as a vehicle for analyzing politics and thus his support of abstract expressionism and the rise of American art on the international stage was a sign that politically America was taking the lead role (Jachec 19-20).
He viewed art as an experiment and thus it included trials and errors. To him action painting was like an experiment and an artist depended on spontaneity in expressing an even on canvas rather than following preconceived designs. In action painting, “The painter was no longer concerned with producing certain kind of object, the work of art, but living on the canvas’ (Wolf 1). This means that a painter was free to paint as he or she deemed fit instead of trying to paint by following conventions thus whatever was painted was an authentic expression of self.
Comparison of approach to art
De Kooning and Rosenberg approach art in the same way because they view art as an expression of individuality. De Kooning influenced Rosenberg on art approach and thus he changed his mind that art does necessarily have to serve the society. Both felt that an artist does not have to follow conventions but uses art as an expression of freedom. This notion is captured by de Kooning “The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves” (Hess 15). These two helped modern artists of the twentieth century look at abstract expressionism in a new light and their legacy still lives on in the 21st century.
Works Cited
Harold Rosenberg. npg.si.edu. n.d. 2010.
Hess, Barbara. Abstract Expressionism. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2005.
Jachec, Nancy. The philosophy and politics of abstract expressionism 1940-1960. assets.cambridge.org. 2000.
Panero, James. The critical moment: abstract expressionism’s dueling duo. neh.gov. 2008.
Storr, Robert. A Painter’s Testament: De Kooning in the Eighties. moma.org. 1997.
Willem de Kooning. theartstory.org. 2010.
Wolf, Justin. Abstract expressionism. theartstory.org. 2010.