{"product_id":"9780375711169","title":"de Kooning (Pulitzer Prize Winner): An American Master","description":"\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor\/Contributor(s):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eStevens, Mark; Swan, Annalyn\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eKnopf\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDate:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e4\/4\/2006\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003ePaperback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"\"\u003eNEW\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Pulitizer Prize and National Book Critics Award Circle Award\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003ci\u003eAn authoritative and brilliant exploration of the art, life, and world of an American master.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Willem de Kooning is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century,   a true “painter’s painter” whose protean work continues to inspire many artists.   In the thirties and forties, along with Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock, he became   a key figure in the revolutionary American movement of abstract expressionism. Of   all the painters in that group, he worked the longest and was the most prolific,   creating powerful, startling images well into the 1980s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The first major biography   of de Kooning captures both the life and work of this complex, romantic figure in   American culture. Ten years in the making, and based on previously unseen letters   and documents as well as on hundreds of interviews, this is a fresh, richly detailed,   and masterful portrait. The young de Kooning overcame an unstable, impoverished,   and often violent early family life to enter the Academie in Rotterdam, where he   learned both classic art and guild techniques. Arriving in New York as a stowaway   from Holland in 1926, he underwent a long struggle to become a painter and an American,   developing a passionate friendship with his fellow immigrant Arshile Gorky, who was   both a mentor and an inspiration. During the Depression, de Kooning emerged as a   central figure in the bohemian world of downtown New York, surviving by doing commercial   work and painting murals for the WPA. His first show at the Egan Gallery in 1948   was a revelation. Soon, the critics Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess were championing   his work, and de Kooning took his place as the charismatic leader of the New York   school—just as American art began to dominate the international scene.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Dashingly   handsome and treated like a movie star on the streets of downtown New York, de Kooning   had a tumultuous marriage to Elaine de Kooning, herself a fascinating character of   the period. At the height of his fame, he spent his days painting powerful abstractions   and intense, disturbing pictures of the female figure—and his nights living on the   edge, drinking, womanizing, and talking at the Cedar bar with such friends as Franz   Kline and Frank O’Hara. By the 1960s, exhausted by the feverish art world, he retreated   to the Springs on Long Island, where he painted an extraordinary series of lush pastorals.   In the 1980s, as he slowly declined into what was almost certainly Alzheimer’s, he   created a vast body of haunting and ethereal late work.","brand":"Knopf","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43373619183871,"sku":"9780375711169","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0452\/0886\/2873\/files\/9780375711169_s600x595.jpg?v=1780335896","url":"https:\/\/massivebookshop.com\/products\/9780375711169","provider":"MASSIVE BOOKSHOP","version":"1.0","type":"link"}