Elaine de Kooning: Portraits Hardcover – April 8, 2015

Great collection of Elaine's portraits, beautifully printed on high quality paper. I searched out this book after reading Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art, by Mary Gabriel, which I would also highly recommend.

A comprehensive analysis of one of the best American portrait painters in the 20th century. It is time that Elaine de Kooning is considered outside of the circle of her artist husband, Willem. The essays provide great insight into the complicated life of Elaine de Kooning and her multiple roles as muse, artist, writer, and social activist. Her portraits of JFK capture the energy and spirit of the President. The exhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. until January 2016 - a must see if in the area.

I ordered this book because I’m a portrait painter and enjoy seeing masterworks and examples from artists who succeeded before me. I was not disappointed with Elaine de Koonong’s wonderful works.

A savvy, sympathetic, beautifully illustrated biography of a woman, often in the shadow of her titanically talented husband, Willem de Kooning--but through the lens of these truly gifted portraits we see her own mastery, and her influences. Well done, beautifully execute, and a valuable reference. I am particularly grateful because I own a masterwork, the portrait of Walter Auerbach from her very first exhibition, 1954--then in MOMA in 1957.

Beautiful Book! Well written and a joy to read.