When asked late in her life how hard it had been to live and paint in the shadow of her internationally-acclaimed husband, Elaine De Kooning replied, “Actually, I live in his light.”  From June 25th through July 9th, Birnam Wood Galleries will present a special exhibition, Elaine De Kooning: Out of the Shadow, a retrospective covering four decades of the artist’s work.

The artist, who died in 1989, has continued to steadily emerge from the shadow of her teacher and husband, Willem de Kooning. Her work reflected a dedication to a strong traditional art foundation, which allowed her to successfully pursue a passion for the non-conventional methods and style associated with the New York School and Abstract Expressionists. 

Elaine De Kooning dedicated a significant part of her early life and career to relentlessly promoting the talent of her husband, while skillfully positioning herself as an art critic for major art magazines and as a well-versed art lecturer.  But as she situated herself among the most critically acclaimed creative minds of the period, like Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock,  Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, and Robert Motherwell, the artist was deftly creating a body of work of exceptional range that was all her own. The New York Times once called a group of her paintings, “…almost too good to be true, adding to the history of Abstract Expressionism more than a footnote.”

The 1950s brought full recognition of Elaine DeKooning’s mature style. She secured several solo exhibitions at notable galleries in New York, and was included in important shows like Young American Painters at the Museum of Modern Art in 1956, and Artists of the NY School: 2nd Generation at the Jewish Museum in 1957.  The compositions, with their highly charged surfaces and depth of emotion, express what some critics called “imminent drama.”

A number of works from this period are included in the show.

Although she wavered between pure and figurative abstractions throughout her life, DeKooning’s portraits, which she executed throughout most of her career, were perhaps her most unique work. This mastery of the portrait genre was confirmed when she was commissioned to paint the portrait of President John F. Kennedy for the Truman Library in 1963, just before his death. Two of the works she created of the slain president are included in this exhibition.

Still, some of Elaine De Kooning’s finest work was reserved for the last two decades of her life, and works from this period dominate the exhibition. Her vibrant and dynamic Bull Series is represented here with multiple works, and there is a strong example of her series based on the 15,000 year-old cave paintings in France’s Dordogne Valley.

The exhibition, which will include twenty works, can be viewed at www.birnamwoodart.com. 

Birnam Wood Galleries specializes in 20th Century and contemporary American art and is located at 48 Park Place in East Hampton, New York. The phone number is 631-324-6010 and email is info@birnamwoodart.com.