.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Other casts from this edition are in the collection of the Tate Modern, London; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
De Kooning's Seated Woman on a Bench is a remarkably tactile, enthroned Madonna of almost life-sized proportions. Seemingly composed of thickened surfaces of skin and sinew than volumes of flesh and bone, this mutable creature transforms de Kooning's deeply carnal paintings of women into palpable, three-dimensional form. She is an extraordinary figure that stands as a climax in de Kooning's brief but brilliant adventure with sculptural form between 1969 and 1974. The first of de Kooning's sculptures were created whilst on holiday in Rome in 1969. They were a series of thirteen small-scale clay pieces which were each cast in editions of six, and sent to his New York dealer after de Kooning's return to the United States. The English sculptor Henry Moore was among those who praised the early experimental sculptures and encouraged de Kooning to expand into monumental dimensions. De Kooning had selected one of these early works, Seated Woman, to be enlarged but after experimenting with a process of allowing others to magnify the small original cast he decided to work directly on a larger scale himself. Seated Woman on a Bench dates from this later project. It belongs to a group of eleven ambitiously scaled figures that de Kooning modeled between 1972-1974.
In order to amplify the effect of his thumb-prints in the larger sculptures, de Kooning took to wearing two layers of outsize gloves to help make each tug, push and caress of the clay bolder and stronger. A pair of these same work gloves were filled with wet clay and used to form the hands of Seated Woman on a Bench. One of these exaggerated appendages gestures to the side as if caught mid-wave. The other is attached to the disembodied arm draped over the woman's compressed head and shoulders. De Kooning has clearly managed to retain the feel and impression of his hands into the soft modeling clay throughout this sculpture. The knotty human figure seems to emerge and dissolve into the material in an almost primordial ecstasy of touch. The ravaged surface of Seated Woman on a Bench attests to the artist's vigorous and very physical interaction with his chosen media, which has been pulled and pressurized into shape, stretching the human form into a new and unfamiliar configuration. The figure was modeled on a rough wooden and metal wire framework and was initially conceived of as free-floating. But with only the left foot planted on the ground it became clear that a bench was needed to support its weight. De Kooning modeled a seat but soon discovered he preferred the form of the mold to the original, so it was this hollowed out form that was sent to the foundry.
De Kooning's sculptures reference the works of great modern sculptors, namely the expressionistically modeled surfaces by Alberto Giacometti and the electric sensuality of Auguste Rodin's women. Indeed, the splayed body of Seated Woman on a Bench calls to mind the latter artist's famous and fragmentary work, Iris, Messenger Of The Gods who hangs suspended mid-air as she arches her back with legs spread wide apart. Splayed figures with wildly gesticulating limbs were in fact a recurring motif in de Kooning's art at the time the present work was created. Throughout his drawings, paintings and sculptures, there is one image that persists as if it was an obsession. It is that of a squatting figure, with legs spread apart and often seated over a small wooden stool. It is there in the fleeting image of Woman on a Sign II, and The Visit of 1967 as well as in the sculpture Untitled No. 2 of 1969. The origins of this figure seem to derive from de Kooning's great 1950 masterpiece Woman I. As de Kooning told Harold Rosenberg, "Woman I reminded me very much of my childhood, being in Holland near all that water. Nobody saw it except Joop Sanders. He started singing a little Dutch song. I said, 'Why do you sing that song?' Then he said 'Well it looks like she is sitting there' The song had to do with a brook. It was a gag and he was laughing but he could see it. Then I said, 'That's very funny, because that's kind of what I am doing'. He said, 'That's what I thought'...it came maybe by association and I said, 'It's just like she is sitting on one of those canals there in the countryside" (H. Rosenberg, 'Interview with Willem de Kooning', ArtNews, September 1972).
In de Kooning's later works of the 1960s, his representation of the squatting pose is exaggerated more fully so that it becomes something elemental and essentially animal. These spread-eagled figures seem to echo the position of a woman with her legs held back to give birth or copulate. This base stance powerfully expresses the intrinsically raw and bestial nature of the human animal. De Kooning appears to have enhanced this raw and visceral quality in Seated Woman on a Bench by gouging out a deep crevice in the figure from groin to neck, thereby rendering the internal void of the body as external and visible. The clay's malleable and corporeal qualities also reinforces the overall sense of carnal pleasure running throughout this bold and powerful sculpture. There is a beautiful abstracted sensuality, a monstrous and grotesque quality as well as a humorous parody of the classical ideal of feminine beauty in the figure.
De Kooning's Seated Woman on a Bench is a remarkably tactile, enthroned Madonna of almost life-sized proportions. Seemingly composed of thickened surfaces of skin and sinew than volumes of flesh and bone, this mutable creature transforms de Kooning's deeply carnal paintings of women into palpable, three-dimensional form. She is an extraordinary figure that stands as a climax in de Kooning's brief but brilliant adventure with sculptural form between 1969 and 1974. The first of de Kooning's sculptures were created whilst on holiday in Rome in 1969. They were a series of thirteen small-scale clay pieces which were each cast in editions of six, and sent to his New York dealer after de Kooning's return to the United States. The English sculptor Henry Moore was among those who praised the early experimental sculptures and encouraged de Kooning to expand into monumental dimensions. De Kooning had selected one of these early works, Seated Woman, to be enlarged but after experimenting with a process of allowing others to magnify the small original cast he decided to work directly on a larger scale himself. Seated Woman on a Bench dates from this later project. It belongs to a group of eleven ambitiously scaled figures that de Kooning modeled between 1972-1974.
In order to amplify the effect of his thumb-prints in the larger sculptures, de Kooning took to wearing two layers of outsize gloves to help make each tug, push and caress of the clay bolder and stronger. A pair of these same work gloves were filled with wet clay and used to form the hands of Seated Woman on a Bench. One of these exaggerated appendages gestures to the side as if caught mid-wave. The other is attached to the disembodied arm draped over the woman's compressed head and shoulders. De Kooning has clearly managed to retain the feel and impression of his hands into the soft modeling clay throughout this sculpture. The knotty human figure seems to emerge and dissolve into the material in an almost primordial ecstasy of touch. The ravaged surface of Seated Woman on a Bench attests to the artist's vigorous and very physical interaction with his chosen media, which has been pulled and pressurized into shape, stretching the human form into a new and unfamiliar configuration. The figure was modeled on a rough wooden and metal wire framework and was initially conceived of as free-floating. But with only the left foot planted on the ground it became clear that a bench was needed to support its weight. De Kooning modeled a seat but soon discovered he preferred the form of the mold to the original, so it was this hollowed out form that was sent to the foundry.
De Kooning's sculptures reference the works of great modern sculptors, namely the expressionistically modeled surfaces by Alberto Giacometti and the electric sensuality of Auguste Rodin's women. Indeed, the splayed body of Seated Woman on a Bench calls to mind the latter artist's famous and fragmentary work, Iris, Messenger Of The Gods who hangs suspended mid-air as she arches her back with legs spread wide apart. Splayed figures with wildly gesticulating limbs were in fact a recurring motif in de Kooning's art at the time the present work was created. Throughout his drawings, paintings and sculptures, there is one image that persists as if it was an obsession. It is that of a squatting figure, with legs spread apart and often seated over a small wooden stool. It is there in the fleeting image of Woman on a Sign II, and The Visit of 1967 as well as in the sculpture Untitled No. 2 of 1969. The origins of this figure seem to derive from de Kooning's great 1950 masterpiece Woman I. As de Kooning told Harold Rosenberg, "Woman I reminded me very much of my childhood, being in Holland near all that water. Nobody saw it except Joop Sanders. He started singing a little Dutch song. I said, 'Why do you sing that song?' Then he said 'Well it looks like she is sitting there' The song had to do with a brook. It was a gag and he was laughing but he could see it. Then I said, 'That's very funny, because that's kind of what I am doing'. He said, 'That's what I thought'...it came maybe by association and I said, 'It's just like she is sitting on one of those canals there in the countryside" (H. Rosenberg, 'Interview with Willem de Kooning', ArtNews, September 1972).
In de Kooning's later works of the 1960s, his representation of the squatting pose is exaggerated more fully so that it becomes something elemental and essentially animal. These spread-eagled figures seem to echo the position of a woman with her legs held back to give birth or copulate. This base stance powerfully expresses the intrinsically raw and bestial nature of the human animal. De Kooning appears to have enhanced this raw and visceral quality in Seated Woman on a Bench by gouging out a deep crevice in the figure from groin to neck, thereby rendering the internal void of the body as external and visible. The clay's malleable and corporeal qualities also reinforces the overall sense of carnal pleasure running throughout this bold and powerful sculpture. There is a beautiful abstracted sensuality, a monstrous and grotesque quality as well as a humorous parody of the classical ideal of feminine beauty in the figure.