Willem de Kooning, one of the most revolutionary and influential artists of the 20th century, is the subject of a major exhibition in the Temporary Exhibitions Halls at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.
Opened to the public on 17th April 2024 to coincide with the 60th International Venice Biennale, the exhibition Willem de Kooning and Italy will run until 15th September 2024.
The exhibition is the first to explore the time de Kooning spent in Italy in 1959 and 1969 and the profound impact those visits had on his work. It brings together 75 works, making it the largest presentation of the artist ever organised in Italy.
The curators of the exhibition, Gary Garrels and Mario Codognato, have established the influence of Italy on de Kooning’s subsequent paintings, drawings and sculpture in America, which has never before been thoroughly researched. The lasting effect of these two creative periods are revealed in an outstanding selection of works, ranging from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.
Giulio Manieri Elia, Director, Gallerie dell’Accademia, said:
We are convinced that proposing de Kooning was the right choice for several reasons: first of all for the importance of the artist. Secondly, because of its subject and special connections with Italy, which is dear and close to us. It should be added that following de Kooning’s death, his works have rarely been seen in Italy, with the last exhibition dedicated to his work dating back eighteen years ago. Finally, what convinced us was the quality of the curators’ selection, featuring around 75 works that represent the breadth of de Kooning’s most expressive periods.
The exhibition includes a selection of the large and striking “Black and White Rome” drawings de Kooning made during his first extended visit to Rome in 1959. They are shown with works from the late 1950s, made in the years leading up to de Kooning’s first visit to Italy.
For the first time, three of de Kooning’s best-known pastoral landscapes Door to the River, A Tree in Naples and Villa Borghese are exhibited together. Painted in New York in 1960, the lingering memory of his trip to Italy is clear. This section of the exhibition also includes large figurative paintings from the mid-1960s that paved the way for his interest in sculpture.
A gallery focusing on sculpture showcases thirteen small bronzes that de Kooning made in Rome. Created after a chance encounter while in Rome with a sculptor friend, these were the result of the artist’s first experiments with clay, leading him to produce a substantial body of sculpture back in New York from 1972 to 1974.
The exhibition also places painting and sculpture in dialogue with drawings from the 1960s and 1970s. Highlights include four ink drawing that de Kooning made while in Spoleto in 1969, presented alongside a complementary selection of intimate, gestural drawing that are conceptually related to the sculptures. In these drawing de Kooning fragmented the figure, often leaving empty spaces balanced against his vigorous lines.
The exhibition, designed by UNA/UNLESS directed by architect Giulia Foscari, ends with a selection of de Kooning’s late paintings from the 1980s, in which the language of three-dimensional form is transfigured into a new, abstract poetry. These paintings contain the faintest figurative references and are characterised by subtly tinted whites balanced by brilliant bands and areas of color. They are among de Kooning’s most sublime works, in which a sense of Baroque composition resides.
Gary Garrels and Mario Codognato, Curators, said:
Willem de Kooning collected from the cacophony of visual excitement, light and movement in daily life to create his own lexicon. The impact of any visual encounter could render or generate an idea for moving into a new drawing or painting. Observing how his New York and East Hampton environments worked into his paintings and drawings, the same occurred in Rome – a gestalt of “glimpses”. During these formative periods of time in Rome, de Kooning synthesised from all around him a new way of looking and activating his medium, experiencing both classical Italian paintings and sculpture as well as the work of his new Italian artist friends.
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with The Willem de Kooning Foundation, an artist-endowed, private operating foundation fostering the study and appreciation of Willem de Kooning’s life and work through research, exhibitions and educational programmes.
Amy Schichtel, Executive Director, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, said:
The Foundation is delighted to be collaborating with the Gallerie dell’Accademia to present this important exhibition, as it allows us to share Willem de Kooning and the curators’ exceptional vision with a wide-ranging, diverse international community. The exhibition offers an extraordinary opportunity to present new research and insights to enrich the experience of the Accademia’s thousands of visitors, both local and from afar. De Kooning is one of America’s great innovators; we find that his risk-taking story continues to be of vital inspiration to many contemporary artists as well as to students and our young people.
Willem de Kooning and Italy , 17th April – 15th September 2024, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Calle della Carità, 1050, 30123 Venice
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Marsilio Arte.
