Elaine de Kooning (American 1918-1989) signed original Artists Proof Lithograph. Designated A.P. and signed in pencil by the artist lower right. Page measures 22"x27.50". Weight 6 pounds. In protective frame for shipping. Published by Hampton Editions. Hampton Editions had collaborative publishing ventures included artists such as Robert Dash, Syd Solomon, Esteban Vicente, Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning, Dan Flavin, Bill King, and Jane Freilicher. PROVENANCE: A Private Southampton, NY Collection. The wife of Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning was a prolific and versatile painter, writer, and teacher. Though she was closely associated with the New York School and Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning eschewed developing a singular style and instead painted in a range of modes from realism to abstraction. “Style is something I’ve always tried to avoid. I’m more interested in character,” she said. She was also an influential art teacher at institutions including Yale University, Carnegie-Mellon University, Parsons School of Design, and the University of Georgia. As a frequent contributor to ARTnews, her articles about fellow artists like Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, and David Smith made Abstract Expressionism accessible to many readers. Art critic and essayist Rose Slivka  said, “She was not only the movement’s interpreter, but its spirit.” De Kooning’s work was not given substantial attention during her lifetime. She was in the professional shadow of her famous artist husband, Willem de Kooning, and her primary subject matter, figurative imagery and particularly portraiture, ran counter to the accepted tenets of Abstract Expressionism (although Willem de Kooning experimented with figurative imagery to greater critical acclaim). She was not publicly resentful, however, stating, “I was working in his light. And a great many others were working in the same light. I’ve always been willful and autocratic anyway, and found him an illuminator, hardly a caster of shadows.”

good, toning to back