Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/robert-mapplethorpe-11413" aria-label="More by Robert Mapplethorpe" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Robert Mapplethorpe</a>
Willem de Kooning
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
actions: expressive
adults
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
body
clothing and personal items
de Kooning, Willem
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
head / face
individuals: male
man
man, old
named individuals
objects
overalls
people
photographic
portraits
smiling
work and occupations
<p>This photograph shows the artist Willem de Kooning (1904–1997) in a head and shoulders shot, looking directly at the camera. His skin is freckled, his hair casually parted, and he is smiling slightly. He wears a white T-shirt, a large-collared, pale-coloured shirt, and a set of dark-coloured dungarees. His left dungaree strap rests on his shoulder, while the right strap has slipped down. The background, which is slightly out of focus, features a number of curved shapes with a painterly quality. A sweeping band just above de Kooning’s right shoulder is noticeably darker than the others, suggesting that the artist has been photographed in front of one of his own paintings.</p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
26 April 2009 – 27 June 2009
2009-06-27
26 April 2009 – 27 June 2009
2009-06-27
2009-04-26
Inverness Museum & Art Gallery (Inverness, UK)
http://www.invernessmuseum.com
2009-04-26
ARTIST ROOMS 2009: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
19 December 2009 – 27 March 2010
2010-03-27
19 December 2009 – 27 March 2010
2010-03-27
2009-12-19
Graves Art Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/coresite/html/graves.asp
2009-12-19
ARTIST ROOMS 2009: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
25 September 2010 – 21 November 2010
2010-11-21
25 September 2010 – 21 November 2010
2010-11-21
2010-09-25
Towner (Eastbourne, UK)
http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/
2010-09-25
ARTIST ROOMS 2010: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
10 November 2012 – 27 April 2013
2013-04-27
10 November 2012 – 27 April 2013
2013-04-27
2012-11-10
Perth Museum & Art Gallery (Perth, UK)
http://www.pkc.gov.uk/
2012-11-10
ARTIST ROOMS 2012: Mapplethorpe Scottish Tour
Loan-out
9 May 2014 – 26 October 2014
2014-10-26
9 May 2016 – 26 October 2016
2016-10-26
2016-05-09
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2014-05-09
Mapplethorpe Self Portraits and Portraits
Collection based display
28 February 2015 – 23 May 2015
2015-05-23
28 February 2015 – 23 May 2015
2015-05-23
2015-02-28
Clydebank Museum (Clydebank, UK)
2015-02-28
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
8 August 2015 – 7 November 2015
2015-11-07
8 August 2015 – 7 November 2015
2015-11-07
2015-08-08
Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Aberystwyth, UK)
2015-08-08
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
28 November 2015 – 26 April 2016
2016-04-26
28 November 2015 – 26 April 2016
2016-04-26
2015-11-28
Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle, UK)
http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk
2015-11-28
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
Willem de Kooning
support: 476 × 471 mm
frame: 818 × 785 × 28 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<div class="text">
<p>This photograph shows the artist Willem de Kooning (1904–1997) in a head and shoulders shot, looking directly at the camera. His skin is freckled, his hair casually parted, and he is smiling slightly. He wears a white T-shirt, a large-collared, pale-coloured shirt, and a set of dark-coloured dungarees. His left dungaree strap rests on his shoulder, while the right strap has slipped down. The background, which is slightly out of focus, features a number of curved shapes with a painterly quality. A sweeping band just above de Kooning’s right shoulder is noticeably darker than the others, suggesting that the artist has been photographed in front of one of his own paintings.</p>
<p>Mapplethorpe was commissioned by the curator Richard Marshall to take photographs of artists residing in New York for the book <i>50 New York Artists</i>, published in 1986. All fifty photographs were taken by Mapplethorpe and included sitters such as Keith Haring (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-keith-haring-ar00207" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00207</span></a>), Brice Marden (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-brice-marden-ar00146" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00146</span></a>) and Roy Lichtenstein (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-roy-lichtenstein-ar00217" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00217</span></a>). This portrait of Willem de Kooning was reproduced in the book alongside his painting <i>Untitled IX</i> 1985 (private collection). The portrait was also printed separately and it is this print that is held in the ARTIST ROOMS collection. At the time the photograph was taken de Kooning was a key player in the American art scene, having established himself as a prominent abstract expressionist in the 1940s and 1950s. It is not clear which painting features in the background of Mapplethorpe’s photograph, although it resembles contemporary works by de Kooning such as <i>Rider (Untitled VII)</i> 1985 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).</p>
<p>As with several of the other photographs included in <i>50 New York Artists</i>, Mapplethorpe made his sitter’s identity as an artist apparent through both apparel and background. De Kooning is dressed casually, wearing an outfit that is almost workmanlike. By presenting de Kooning in studio attire, Mapplethorpe’s photograph has an almost documentary quality, as though the artist has been interrupted while working. There is perhaps also an element of sadness to the photograph, given that in 1986 de Kooning was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and beginning to lose his eyesight. However, de Kooning was still very much active as an artist at this time, something that Mapplethorpe conveys in this portrait.</p>
<p>In <i>50 New York Artists</i> the photograph appears alongside a statement by de Kooning, which reads:</p>
<p class="cttext">
</p><blockquote>If you write down a sentence and you don’t like it, but that’s what you wanted to say, you say it again in another way. Once you start doing it and you find how difficult it is, you get interested. You have it, then you lose it again, and then you get it again. You have to change to stay the same.<br/>(Quoted in Marshall 1986, p.34.)</blockquote>
<p>De Kooning here describes the difficult process of self-expression, of seeking and finding the means to convey a message, a method that applies as much to painting as to words. The juxtaposition of words, photograph, and painting reproduced in <i>50 New York Artists</i> provides a snapshot of de Kooning and his working methods at this late stage in his career.</p>
<p>Willem de Kooning marks a shift away from the sadomasochistic subject matter of much of Mapplethorpe’s work of the late 1970s. This and other photographs made in the early and mid-1980s – such as <i>Robert Rauschenberg</i> 1983 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-robert-rauschenberg-ar00216" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00216</span></a>) and <i>Roy Lichtenstein</i> 1985 (Tate <span>AR00217</span>) – are less controversial. As Richard Marshall has suggested, these works ‘show a shift away from ... actively sexual imagery to a phase of refinement of subject and composition that emphasizes a classical, quiet, and formalized sense of beauty’ (Marshall 1988, p.14).</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Richard Marshall, <i>50 New York Artists: A Critical Selection of Painters and Sculptors Working in New York</i>, San Francisco 1986, reproduced p.34.<br/>Richard Marshall, <i>Robert Mapplethorpe</i>, London 1988.<br/>Germano Celant, <i>Mapplethorpe</i>, exhibition catalogue, Hayward Gallery, London 1996.</p>
<p>Thomas Flanagan<br/>University of Edinburgh<br/>November 2014</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS.</i>
</p>
</div>

Summary
2017-01-27T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>The Dutch-born American painter, Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), was, along with Jackson Pollock, the chief representative of the gestural form of Abstract Expressionism. Mapplethorpe portrays him as a benign ‘old-timer’ in his working overalls. As with his portraits of Brice Marden, Roy Lichtenstein and Francesco Clemente, it appears Mapplethorpe has photographed him infront of one of his own paintings.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: expressive adults artist, painter arts and entertainment body clothing and personal items de Kooning, Willem emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities head / face individuals: male man man, old named individuals objects overalls people photographic portraits smiling work and occupations