Bullfight

1959

Elaine de Kooning, Bullfight, 1959. Oil paint on canvas; 77 5/8 x 130 1/4 in. Denver Art Museum: Vance H. Kirkland Acquisition Fund, 2012.300. © Elaine de Kooning Trust

This object is currently on view

While she dedicated a large part of her life to promoting her husband's career, Elaine de Kooning was an important avant-garde artist in her own right and contributed greatly to American art. Although she was involved socially and intellectually in Abstract Expressionism and incorporated an abstract style into her work, her primary commitment was to figural painting. In 1957, after amicably separating from her husband, Elaine de Kooning accepted a teaching position at the University of New Mexico. The western scenery influenced her work as did a trip to Ciudad Juárez, located across the Mexican border from El Paso. Here, she saw bullfights that inspired a series of drawings, watercolors, and paintings. Much of her vibrant and dynamic bullfighting series combined abstraction with representational depictions. The purely abstracted Bullfight, however, captures the energy of the bullfight with abstract brushstrokes set against a brightly colored field, and leaves out any obvious references to the subject matter.

Artist

Elaine de Kooning, American, 1918-1989: Born: Brooklyn, NY; Work Locations: New York, NY

Country

United States

Object

painting

Medium

Oil paint on canvas

Dimensions

overall height: 77 5/8 in, 197.1675 cm; overall width: 130 1/4 in, 330.8350 cm; depth: 1 1/8 in, 2.8575 cm

Credit Line

Vance H. Kirkland Acquisition Fund

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Collection

Modern and Contemporary Art

Accession Number

2012.300

Exhibition History

"Women of Abstract Expressionism" Denver Art Museum (Jun 12, 2016–Sep 25, 2016)

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