Black Untitled by Willem de Kooning 1948

 

This work by the Netherland born artist Willem de Kooning was a part of a series of black and white painting that begins his career at New York's Charles Egan Gallery in 1948.  

His medium for this series was a synthetic enamel.  His choice was mainly an economic one in order that he could create a more thin layered effect that wouldn't blend together. The work of art measured 29 7/8 x 40" which was not a large display but provided enough spatial definition and transition within the work.  

One aspect of this work that drew my attention more than the others was the way the abstract allowing for the viewer to have different perceptions depending on their position and distance from the canvas.  Initially, when I saw the painting within the smaller block, the figures and shapes had a complexity that which opening the piece to a wider view, presented a more restricted visual response.  As if the painting as a whole gave window to more of a sensory experience than taking in the individual sections.  

As a sit to soak up the experience of the artist's impression and expression, I find myself having a feeling of emotional intensity. The shapes within the left side of the canvas have more light response with the white paint and to my eye shows long humanesque features that appear to be two people in an embrace.  Perhaps a dance.  A sensual one.  With the female extending an arm out and behind her as if reaching up to cup the face of her partner.  The environment I perceive is one of emotional conflict or intimacy.  Such the light and dark of the shadows within a nightclub.  The upper right corner gives a visual of more structured angles.  Perhaps chairs.  Faces. Perhaps a performance?  the embracing lovers on display.  The darker wave like strokes give a feeling that they could represent the waves of velvet fabrics in the darker parts of the space.  The white paint and shapes of the left side to my mind present a livelier aspect.  The right perhaps the areas within this space when dark contemplation would happen.  But whatever the intention of the artist, this example of abstract art truly encompasses the visual experience of mental impression.  My impression may be significantly different from the next.  There is one thing that is clear to me and that is that the way the angles, shapes and non linear forms are displayed, this definitely represents a dream like state.  And that perhaps is in itself the whole of what abstract art intends.  To allow the viewer to enter into their own dream of what the intention was for the work.  And if one is looking, they might be able to absorb the artist's efforts as they intended.