In 1955 Katharine Kuh, curator of European art and sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, pushed for the museum to acquire Two Women’s Torsos, a colourful drawing of 1952 by Willem de Kooning in which the figures of two women – or perhaps three – can be made out from abstract shapes and geometric forms. Although the museum’s board had reservations about the work, the purchase went ahead – testament to Kuh’s discernment, for the drawings de Kooning made in the 1950s are now seen as pivotal in his career. He is often grouped with the Abstract Expressionists, but was more interested in figuration than many of his peers; ‘I draw in paint,’ he once said, ‘and usually I don’t feel so much difference between drawing and painting.’ This exhibition reveals how important draughtsmanship was to de Kooning, and reminds us that although cubism made a major mark on his work, he never shook his fascination with Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian and other masters of the human figure (14 June–20 September).
Find out more from the Art Institute of Chicago’s website.
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