WOMEN IN ART: ELAINE DE KOONING

Many of you have heard of Willem de Kooning, the widely known Abstract Expressionist Painter. But not many of you have heard of his wife, Elaine de Kooning, Figurative Expressionist Painter. Being very active in the Abstract Expressionist movement in the early 20th Century, Elaine de Kooning was a member of the Eighth Street Club in New York City, which rarely gave memberships to women. Especially during the Abstract Expressionist movement, women were not valued as much as their male counterparts. Which led Elaine de Kooning to sign her works with her initials, to prevent being labeled as feminine.

Elaine de Kooning, Fairfield Porter, 1954, oil on canvas

So a little about Elaine de Kooning's art career: As a figurative artist, de Kooning often painted portraits. Her subjects were mainly fellow artists from poets to choreographers, however she did paint John F. Kennedy as well. In fact, Elaine de Kooning kept painting JFK and made an entire series of portraits of him, one of which is in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. "Portraiture always fascinated me because I love the particular gesture of a particular expression or stance... Working on the figure, I wanted paint to sweep through as feelings sweep through..." You can tell in her work as well that there is a lot of color and heavy influence from other abstract expressionist artists at this time including her husband Willem.

Elaine de Kooning, Thomas B. Hess, 1956, oil on canvas

Elaine de Kooning in her Manhattan studio in 1964. She is with her John F. Kennedy series of paintings

Later in her life Elaine de Kooning was inspired by paleolithic cave paintings of Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain. Which really shows her knowledge of color, movement, and line through abstract representative imagery.

Elaine de Kooning, Bull, 1958, oil on canvas, New York University Art Collection

Besides being a painter, Elaine de Kooning was also a writer and wrote from Art News magazine, writing many articles about famous artists. She also taught in many colleges later on in her life. Truly an intelligent and iconic female artist, Elaine de Kooning sadly gets overshadowed by her husband Willem de Kooning. But her work is very crucial to the Abstract Expressionist movement and Art History and should not be ignored.

WOMEN IN ART: HELEN FRANKENTHALER

Many women did not consider themselves feminists by being a woman artist, but they were. The sad fact that simply following your passion could have made you a feminist is weird to think about in today's world. But it still very much a part of society, we owe it to some of the women who unknowingly started a strong movement. One of these women was Helen Frankenthaler.

Helen Frankenthaler was an Abstract Expressionist Painter and was a large contributor to the postwar American painting society. Her first piece to launch her career was Mountains and Sea.

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952, oil and charcoal on canvas

This piece was pretty different for the viewers because of a few things; for one the colors look like they would be watercolor, but instead they are oil, which is surprising. Another thing is that she worked on unprimed (and unstretched!) canvas which allows the paints to seep into the canvas creating what is considered a "soak stain". Another artist who not only influenced her work greatly but also used the soak stain technique was Jackson Pollock.

Helen Frankenthaler, A Green Thought in a Green Shade, 1981, oil on canvas

Helen Frankenthaler, Nature Abhors a Vaccum, 1973, oil on canvas

"A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once. It's an immediate image. For my own work, when a picture looks labored and overworked, and you can read in it—well, she did this and then she did that, and then she did that—there is something in it that has not got to do with beautiful art to me. And I usually throw these out, though I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute." In Barbara Rose, Frankenthaler

Citations:
Mountians and Sea: http://artchive.com/artchive/F/frankenthaler/frankenthaler_mtns.jpg.html
A Green Thought in a Green Shade: https://paintingowu.wordpress.com/tag/helen-frankenthaler/
Nature Abhors a Vaccum: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/arts/helen-frankenthaler-abstract-painter-dies-at-83.html?pagewanted=all
Info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Frankenthaler#Influences