Discussing Williem de Kooning and seeing the exhibit of his work at the MoMA was my first time ever hearing of and experiencing his work. Overall, I felt that our visit to this exhibit brought our Arts in NYC class full circle, for our first major class outing was to the Jewish Museum to see the Cone Sisters exhibit, featuring works by Picasso and Matisse. While looking at the de Kooning exhibit, I couldn’t help but feel that I had seen these paintings before. I soon realized that I was comparing them to my memories of the Picasso and Matisse paintings we saw at the Jewish museum.
If I had to describe de Kooning’s paintings in this light, I would say that he takes Picasso and Matisse to the next level. Like Picasso, de Kooning did do lots of pantings depicting the female form, and like the both of them, de Kooning is definitely an abstract artist. Of the three of them, however, de Kooning is clearly the “craziest” – he takes the Picasso woman and the Matisse bold colors and swathes his women (and other subjects, still life and all) in a practically unintelligible swirl of scribbles. That’s just the thing: is it unintelligible, or is it supposed to have a hidden message? Walking through the exhibits, my colleagues and I would look at particularly “messy” paintings- those covered in scribbles as opposed to his cleaner, later works – and we would try to find the “subject”, particularly for the Untitled works. We found an assortment of faces, animals, phallic symbols, etc., but looking at these paintings was like looking at clouds in the sky: these pantings literally can have anything and everything in them. A lot of the time, de Kooning doesn’t say what is supposed to be seen in these paintings- even the clearly titled ones seem misleading – so you are left doubting whether your interpretation is “on the right track” or not.
While I usually like to try the meaning in all art, while walking through this exhibit I felt that a lot of de Kooning’s work appeared to be “art for art’s sake.” It seems to be a dirty word in the art world, but as an artist myself I find that I often don’t think of the “intention” or “message” of my work. A lot of the time, I just sing or write, and I’m not trying to make sure my audience sees a certain thing. In this sense, de Kooning’s work is very freeing. If you can believe that he wants you to interpret the art your way, you’ll have no trouble letting your mind roam, as freely as say, his piece Merritt Parkway.
