Harold Rosenberg #3
Social Media Share Tools
Object Details
- Artist
- Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
- Sitter
- Harold Rosenberg, 2 Feb 1906 - 13 Jul 1978
- Exhibition Label
- Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978) was a poet and art critic; his most famous essay, "The American Action Painters" (1952), championed abstract painting, including that of Willem de Kooning. He affirmed the painter’s canvas "as an arena in which to act—rather than as a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyze or ‘express’ an object, actual or imagined. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event."
- The de Koonings had known Rosenberg and his wife, May Tabak, since the 1940s, and Elaine painted and drew him many times. This painting is the largest and most complex, depicting the critic stretched out in her studio, filling the canvas, and holding a beverage can in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Elaine combined fluid drawing with dark paint and broadly brushed areas of colorful pigment to create equilibrium between bodily likeness and pure abstraction.
- Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978) fue un poeta y crítico de arte. Su ensayo más famoso, “Los pintores de acción norteamericanos” (1952), es una defensa de la pintura abstracta, incluida la de Willem de Kooning. Afirmaba que el lienzo de un pintor era un “lugar donde se actúa, no un espacio para reproducir, rediseñar, analizar o ‘expresar’ un objeto, sea real o imaginario. Lo que debe ir en el lienzo no es una imagen, sino un suceso”.
- Los De Kooning conocían a Rosenberg y su esposa, May Tabak, desde los años cuarenta; de hecho, Elaine lo pintó y dibujó en numerosas ocasiones. Esta pintura es la más compleja y de mayor formato. El crítico aparece recostado en el estudio de ella, llenando el espacio del lienzo, con una lata de alguna bebida en una mano y un cigarrillo en la otra. Elaine combina áreas oscuras de dibujo fluido con áreas de pinceladas amplias en pigmentos coloridos para crear equilibrio entre el parecido físico y la abstracción pura.
- Provenance
- The artist; her estate; (Lindsay & Thomas, Inc. [Joan T. Washburn], New York); purchased 1994 NPG
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- 1956
- Object number
- NPG.94.14
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © National Portrait Gallery
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Object: 203.2 x 149.9 x 2.5cm (80 x 59 x 1")
- Frame: 205.7 x 152.4 x 3.8cm (81 x 60 x 1 1/2")
- Place
- United States\New York
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Interior
- Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair
- Equipment\Smoking Implements\Cigarette
- Food\Beverage\Alcoholic\Beer
- Harold Rosenberg: Male
- Harold Rosenberg: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Professor\University
- Harold Rosenberg: Visual Arts\Art critic
- Harold Rosenberg: Literature\Writer\Essayist
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.94.14
- Metadata Usage (text)
- Usage conditions apply
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm447072f52-f8f2-4699-be5e-5921a0266855
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.