Elaine de Kooning Self-Portrait
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
Object Details
- Date
- 1946
- Artist
- Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
- Sitter
- Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
- Exhibition Label
- Born Brooklyn, New York
- Clad in a turtleneck, trousers, and smock, Elaine de Kooning looks directly at the viewer, asserting her presence as an artist. Deeply invested in her work as a portraitist, she poses in a way that reveals her keen sense of pictorial organization. De Kooning surrounds herself with still life objects in what may be a studio setting, an allusion to tutorials from the artist Willem de Kooning, who became her spouse in 1943. The sketchbook in her hands is a potential reference to her work not only in abstract and figurative paintings but also drawings.
- Active during a period that saw the rise of Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning became well-known for her expressive portraits and her facility for capturing her subjects’ individuality, as reflected in her portrait of John F. Kennedy (1963) on view in the America’s Presidents galleries.
- Nacida en Brooklyn, Nueva York
- Con suéter de cuello alto, pantalones y blusón, Elaine de Kooning mira directamente al observador, afirmando su presencia como artista. Muy dedicada a su labor de retratista, aquí posa revelando su agudo sentido de organización pictórica. De Kooning se rodea de objetos típicos de los bodegones en lo que podría ser un estudio, evocando quizás las lecciones del artista Willem de Kooning, con quien se casó en 1943. El cuaderno de bocetos que sostiene podría ser una alusión a su labor no solo en la pintura abstracta y figurativa sino en el dibujo.
- Activa en una época en que cobró auge el expresionismo abstracto, De Kooning se dio a conocer por sus expresivos retratos y su facilidad para captar la individualidad de sus modelos, como lo refleja su retrato de John F. Kennedy (1963) expuesto en las galerías de Presidentes de Estados Unidos.
- Provenance
- The artist; her estate; (Lindsay & Thomas, Inc. [Joan T. Washburn], New York); purchased 1994 NPG
- Place
- United States\New York\Kings\New York
- Topic
- Home Furnishings\Furniture
- Printed Material\Book
- Artwork
- Nature & Environment\Plant\Flower
- Interior\Studio\Art
- Self-portrait
- Elaine de Kooning: Female
- Elaine de Kooning: Visual Arts\Artist\Painter
- Portrait
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Object number
- NPG.94.81
- Type
- Painting
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Medium
- Oil on Masonite
- Dimensions
- Stretcher: 75.6 x 57.5cm (29 3/4 x 22 5/8") (6/24/13 exam form: 30 1/4 x 23)
- Frame: 98.4 x 79.7 x 4.1cm (38 3/4 x 31 3/8 x 1 5/8") (6/24/13 exam form: 38 3/4 x 31 1/2 x 1 1/2)
- Metadata Usage
- Usage conditions apply
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.94.81