Footnotes

Provenance
The New Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibited
New York, James Goodman Gallery, de Kooning Drawings, 10 January-25 January 1964
New York, Allan Stone Gallery, De Kooning Retrospective Drawings 1936-1963, February 1964, n.p., illustrated in black and white (titled The Inquest and dated circa 1940)
Iowa City, State University of Iowa, Drawing and the Human Figure: 1400-1964, April 1964, p. 38, no. 128 (titled The Inquest and dated 1951)
Chicago, Richard Feigen Gallery, Drawings: New York, 1965, December 1965-January 1966
Detroit, J.L. Judson Gallery, Willem de Kooning: Three Decades of Painting, 19 March-13 April 1968
New York, Allan Stone Gallery, Willem de Kooning Drawings: 1920s-1970s, 30 October 2007-19 January 2008, pp.14-15, illustrated in color (titled The Inquest)

Literature
William C. Seitz, Abstract Expressionist Painting in America, Cambridge & London 1983, p. 185, no. 1B, illustrated in black and white (titled The Inquest)
Diana Waldman, Willem de Kooning, New York 1988, p. 39, no. 27, illustrated in black and white (titled The Dead Man)
Kirsten Hoving Powell, 'Resurrecting Content in de Kooning's Easter Monday' in: Smithsonian Studies in American Art Vol. 4 No. 3/4, Summer-Autumn 1990, p. 89, no. 1, illustrated in black and white (titled The Dead Man)
Judith Zilczer, 'Identifying Willem de Kooning's Reclining Man' in: American Art, Summer 1998, p. 31, no. 3, illustrated in color
Judith Zilczer, A Way of Living: The Art of De Kooning, London 2014, p. 53, no. 60, illustrated in color



Willem de Kooning is undoubtably one of the most important figures of Twentieth Century Art. Born in 1904 in Rotterdam to Dutch parents, he moved to the United States in 1926, initially finding work as a house painter and securing commercial art jobs painting signs and designing shop fronts. Early friendships with artists Stuart Davis, John Graham and Arshile Gorky propelled him into a circle of sophisticated intellectuals who were becoming important creative forces within the New York art scene. Initially receiving praise for his iconic Woman paintings of the late 1940s and early 1950s, de Kooning emerged as a leader of Abstract Expressionism. The vanguard art practice is identified by spontaneous gesture, expressive brush strokes and dynamic composition and de Kooning's trailblazing work influenced innumerable generations of artists.

Though it is so often the dripping paint and tactile splash work evident in paintings that are most closely associated with the 'action painting' practice of Abstract Expressionism, it is drawing that was the most steadfast and unwavering practice throughout de Kooning's life. De Kooning produced a vast canon of pencil drawings, charcoal studies and pastel sketches that document every stage of his prolific career. Rather than preliminary studies for greater projects, drawing was always central to de Kooning's practice and his works on paper remain some of the artist's most revolutionary contribution to abstract art. A consummate draftsman, his technical skill on paper has often been compared to that of Pablo Picasso or Henri Matisse. His works on paper are characterized by a pioneering gestural abstraction and psychological expression, revealing both the artist's searing angst and palpable fragility.

The present grouping covers an impressive four decades of the artist's practice from the 1930s through to the 1960s. Each singularly unique, they evoke a journey through de Kooning's career of pioneering experimentation and curiosity. The earliest example in the present grouping dates from the late 1930s and reflects his experiences creating murals with the Federal Art Project and his private commission to design a section of the three-part mural for the Hall of Pharmacy at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Inquest (The Dead Man), circa 1938, illustrates an artist shifting from figuration, experimenting with biomorphism and the reduction of the human form. Very few examples from this period remain today and they are even rarer to see at auction.

In the following years, De Kooning's drawings from the 1940s hover between figuration and abstraction. Untitled (Study for a Painting), circa 1945-48, combines recognizable representational elements with Cubist forms, creating a tightly connected composition that breaks away from European rules of abstraction. Untitled, 1959, created over a decade later, illustrates a pivotal period in de Kooning's practice. Comprised of the thick, gestural brush strokes that defined Abstract Expressionism, the hint of a figure appears to almost gesticulate to something just outside the sheet edge. The figure itself is reminiscent of the artist's iconic Woman series, reflected in his paintings during the same period. The work also illustrates the artist's abandonment of color in favor of a strong, graphic formulae.

The latest work in the grouping, Untitled (East Hampton), 1960, was created the year before de Kooning acquired a house in the Hamptons, signifying the artist's exodus from the city. This period notes a significant period of experimentation with paper, notably through collage. "The torn edges and planes, freed from rigorous intellectual formulations, move into an arena of deep expressionism, emotional release, with an energetic, if not frantic, drive toward completion" (Paul Cummings in: Willem de Kooning: Drawings, Paintings and Sculpture, New York 1983, p. 20).

Willem de Kooning's drawings and works on paper are held in the most important collections globally including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. and the Tate Modern, London. They have also been the specific focus of major exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa and The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.