De Kooning, the modern master of colour, dies

[Patricia Greig]

THE TIMES: FOREIGN NEWS, March 20, 1997.
De Kooning, the modern master of colour, dies
FROM QUENTIN LETTS IN NEW YORK

THE Dutch-born master of bright colours and odd female forms, Willem de
Kooning, died yesterday in New York. He was 92.

De Kooning, who arrived in America as a stowaway in the 1920s, was
recognised as one of the great artists of the 20th century, a man who
explored the frontiers of abstract expressionism and whose art is now
worth millions.

The artist, who in later life suffered from Alzheimer's disease, died in
his studio in Long Island's East Hampton. His illness led a court to
declare that he was incapable of looking after his affairs and to
appoint trustees for his assets. Only last night an important exhibition
of his late work opened in New York City. Many of the paintings were
done when de Kooning, who continued to paint well into his eighties, had
lost his memory.

Born in The Netherlands to a Rotterdam drayman and his wife, de Kooning
was given his first lessons in art at a design firm, where his employer,
realising that the young man showed promise, sent him to art evening
classes.

In 1926 de Kooning smuggled himself on board a ship and arrived in
Hoboken, New Jersey, with little money and less English. He worked at
first as a house painter in the suburbs, moving later to Manhattan. He
took American citizenship in 1961.

His art was famous for its vivid use of bright pinks and greens, a look
that the adventurous critics of postwar New York soon began to champion.
A 1948 one-man show earned him early attention, and by the 1950s he was
regarded, with Jackson Pollock, as the bright young man of Western art.
Pop art was to follow, taking much of its lead from de Kooning's
efforts.

Painting "is a way of living today, a style of living so to speak ...
that is where the form of it lies," he said in an often-quoted statement
on "What abstract art means to me," read at a seminar at the Museum of
Modern Art in Manhattan in 1951.

His canvases ranged from the black and white "Night Square" (1950-51) to
the colourful "Woman" series to early 1980s abstracts that were
overwhelmingly done in primary colours.

According to some, his unhappy childhood was the inspiration for much of
the sexual insecurity that people discerned in his paintings. In adult
life de Kooning had problems with drink as well as a tempestuous private
life.

The funeral will be on Saturday and many of the most prominent figures
in modern art are expected to attend.