TitlePortrait of Joe Montgomery
Artist
Elaine Marie Catherine Fried de Kooning
(American, 1920 - 1989)
Date1978
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 78 × 50 1/8 in.
Framed: 78 3/4 × 50 5/8 × 1 5/8 in.
SignedSigned at bottom right corner: "E de K '78".
SubmissionANA diploma presentation, October 1, 1986
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1986.207
Label TextElaine de Kooning (née Fried) studied art at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, the American Art School, and the National Academy before meeting her future husband and paramour of Abstract Expressionism, Willem de Kooning. A talented art critic and painter in her own right, Elaine de Kooning was an active participant in the abstract expressionist movement, and had her first solo exhibition at the Stable Gallery in New York in 1952. Solo shows of her work were thereafter presented almost annually at a wide range of institutional and commercial galleries throughout the country, including exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Washington (D.C.) Gallery of Modern Art in 1964.De Kooning painted portraits throughout the course of her long career. She accepted only two commissions, however; the first was the portrait of President John F. Kennedy for the Truman Library and the second was of the Brazilian soccer star Pele. The artist was known for capturing her male subjects in a standing position as seen in "Portrait of Joe Montgomery." Like many of her portraits, the frenetic brushwork is in stark contrast to the static figure. The artist recalled, "Bill [de Kooning] just always thought that portraits were pictures that girls made. So, I made portraits. I had that area free; I had to do it myself."
