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Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure

September 29, 2002 – January 5, 2003
East Building, Concourse

Willem de Kooning, Woman I, 1952, pastel, crayon and graphite on wove paper, Andrew W. Mellon Fund © 2002 Willem de Kooning Revocable Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 1978.32.1

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: This exhibition featured 65 works on paper created between 1938 and 1955 by Willem de Kooning. The exhibition explored drawings of the human figure, particularly the female form. 20 single and double figure drawings and pastels created by de Kooning in 1952 formed the core of the presentation.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA). MOCA chief curator Paul Schimmel and MOCA curator Cornelia Butler were the curators. Charles Ritchie was coordinator at the National Gallery of Art.

Sponsor: Support for the exhibition was provided by The Sydney Irmas Exhibition Endowment, Maria Hummer and Bob Tuttle, the National Endowment for the Arts, Genevieve and Ivan Reitman, Audrey M. Irmas, Beatrice and Philip Gersh, The Mnuchin Foundation, and Betye Monell Burton. The national tour was sponsored by Wells Fargo. Additional support for the catalogue was provided by the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation.

Attendance: 45,673

Catalog: Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure, by Cornelia H. Butler, Paul Schimmel, Richard Shiff, and Anne M. Wagner. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press in association with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2002.

Other Venues: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, February 10–May 5, 2002
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 27–September 8, 2002

de Kooning, Willem
American, 1904 - 1997