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Article: Different strokes: the late work of Willem de Kooning.
- Article from:
- Artforum International
- Article date:
- January 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Artforum International Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On the 22nd of this month, "Willem de Kooning: The Late Paintings" opens at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the final stop on its five-city tour. In the following pages Peter Schjeldahl discusses the controversial late phase of the artist's career.
The last act of Willem de Kooning's art reminds me of a self-portrait by another Dutchman, Rembrandt van Rijn, that hangs in the Frick Collection. In Rembrandt's rugged last style, it renders a man who is old, fat, and probably sick, not long for this world, and who meets our gaze with tired, not terribly interested, but speaking eyes. In three-quarter view, filling the frame and crowding the picture plane, he sits ...