Willem de Kooning’s reputation as a celebrated master draftsman was best articulated by Diane Waldman, who espoused that his “contribution to drawing is as far-reaching as it has been to painting.” For de Kooning, drawing was integral to his work; over his long career, de Kooning drew on and over various surfaces, eschewing any notion of definitive artistic output while experimenting with line, form and space. As Thomas B. Hess observed, “de Kooning is always drawing.” Not merely intended as preparatory studies for larger pieces, de Kooning’s drawings were part of a continuous and unified artistic process that occurred across various media.
A differential use of graphic density invigorates Three Women, executed circa 1958, as delicate, fluent lines forming two figures on the right are balanced by the more forceful marks on the left. In the middle, a central woman composed of identifiable features and geometric forms gazes towards the viewer. This juxtaposition epitomizes the tensile interplay between figuration and abstraction which fascinated de Kooning and defined his oeuvre.
Exemplifying the artist’s vigorous approach, the present work betrays de Kooning’s signature dynamic employment of pencil to paper: through the immediacy of his mark-making, he enlivens the surface of and the forms within Three Women. The subject is also perhaps the most iconic of the artist’s œuvre: women, the depiction of which the artist extensively explored in both his drawings and greatest paintings and which constitutes one of the most revolutionary series in 20th century art. This chapter of his career, which he debuted in 1953 at Sidney Janis Gallery, has evoked a wide range of responses, from the horrified to the lauding, and has become one of the greatest spectacles of post-war art.
