From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elaine Marie de Kooning (March 12, 1918 - February 1, 1989), was an abstract expressionist and semi-realistic painter. She was born as Elaine Marie Fried in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

During her youth, her artistic side was encouraged by her mother, who took her to museums and taught her to draw what she saw. She began to study at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, New York in 1937, but switched soon to the American Artist School. Elaine was introduced to a Dutch immigrant artist, Willem de Kooning.

In 1938, she became his student, and after five more years, in 1943, his wife. While her reputation was always eclipsed by some degree by his fame, she was able to make a name as an artist and critic for ARTnews. With well-placed reviews and flirtations, she was claimed to have initiated the rise of her husband in the art circles of New York and made him one of the leading names in Expressionism in the States.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, she never abandoned realism completely. In fact, much of her career was devoted to portraitism. She held guest professorships at Yale and Carnegie Mellon University and painted the portrait of John F. Kennedy for the Truman Library. Kennedy was assassinated during the creation of this work, impacting on her to a degree that she stopped painting for one year.

The de Koonings intimate relationship was a difficult one. In the 1940s, they were the typical artist couple, living in extreme poverty but producing an astonishing amount of works. Both had significant problems with alcohol. They lived apart for several years in the 1960s, and both had a number of sexual relationships with other partners, though they never divorced. However, their strong emotional bindings led them back together, especially when Elaine overcame her alcoholism and helped Willem on his own path to sobriety.

Elaine was a chain smoker, which eventually led to her death from lung cancer, aged 70.

• American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey ISBN 0-9677994-1-4
• New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists ISBN 0-9677994-0-6
• The Spirit of Abstract Expressionism Selected Writings ISBN 0-8076-1337-1

Women in art