On Willem de Kooning

Willem de Kooning, Composition (1955)

Stephen Ellis, in his excellent “Willem de Kooning: Acrobat with a Paint Brush” (NYR Daily, June 1, 2019), says that de Kooning’s paintings “refuse to be defined as either ‘representational’ or ‘abstract,’ flitting restlessly between these notional polarities.” This connects with a memorable observation that Peter Schjeldahl makes in his essay “Willem de Kooning,” included in his new collection Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light: “His art is not abstract, just relentlessly abstracting.”