De Kooning: A Retrospective

Exemplary! This is all that a retrospective catalog can and should be! The reproductions are mostly really good; the text informative and sophisticated, with Elderfield's intro possibly at his best. The structure is clear and logical -- of course de Kooning's work lends itself to structuring the presentation into clear periods. Differently colored pages in each of the chronological sections, minutely explicate the materials he used -- a wonderful and valuable feature! real kudos for that! -- and are appropriately accompanied by reproductions of details. The chronologies in each section are very useful as well -- the selections that went into these are necessarily a little subjective, but that's to be expected. A marvellous and almost definitive book for anyone who admires de Kooning's work! I say almost definitive, because it covers the specific selection of his work for the MoMA retrospective -- a proper catalog -- which should not be confused with his entire oeuvre. As such, it suffers a bit from the overemphasis on the Women paintings of the 50's, and the underrepresentation of e.g.: his great late-50's abstractions, a lack one felt in viewing the exhibition itself. And anyone who was lucky enough to see MoMA's presentation of de Kooning's late paintings some 20+ years ago, as I was, understands fully the pleasures and the benefits of seeking out the work that did not make it into this exhibition -- and catalog. After all, I have NEVER seen a de Kooning painting in a public collection that did not "work" as a painting -- and he was a prolific painter!

I hesitated to buy this expensive book - I could find most of the pictures on the web and much of the bulk of the volume is writing, which you're supposed to read if you buy the book. Well, pictures in the book are printed better than those you find on the web AND the color is more faithful to that of the originals at the MOMA than you find in less expensive books.. After all, MOMA published the book.So, what about reading the writing? Well, in the early pages there's the usual back scratching among academics et al, but once you get past that the individual essays (chapters) give reasoned insight in readable English. Chapter 5, "Women to Landscape" by John Elderfield is especially illuminating.

If you are a fan of De Kooning's work, this is a must-have. As someone who visited the exhibit several times, I saw the book in person long before I was able to purchase it, and was somewhat hesitant to buy because it was a bit smaller than I would have liked. However, the more I thought about it, the more I really wanted a nice catalog of such a great De Kooning retrospective. The book arrives shrink wrapped, preventing any cosmetic damage from handling, which is a nice touch. Again, I felt the quality could have been punched up a bit by the publisher (better color fidelity, higher quality paper, the wishlist goes on), so while I was not prepared to purchase the book at full price, Amazon is offering it for a great value, so I bit the bullet, and I'm glad I did.

This book is the catalog for the great, albeit belated, retrospective currently held at Moma, supervised by one of the best museum curators in the US, John Elderfield. The illustrations are numerous and of a very good quality (which has not always been the case with Moma's recent publications). Practically all the greatest masterpieces are present (five of the six Women of the early 1950's) and the text breaks new ground insofar as it rehabilitates De Kooning's late period (the paintings of the 1980's, often dismissed by art critics as being the work of a debilitated artist weakened by the effects of dementia) and also traces some previously neglected sources that show how much the artist was translating the mood of his time on the canvas.Highly recommended and a must-have in any arts library.

This catalog marks a new standard in museum publications. It is packed with rare previously unpublished photographs of the artist, his early work up to the end of his life. It offers seminal images of Picasso, Gorky and other artists who acted as inspirational models for De Kooning along with works by De Kooning created in response to his artistic mentors. The appendix of the book is extraordinary for including painting recipes used by De Kooning and other studio matters including microscopic cross layers of paint surfaces. With brilliant color plates and state of the art printing this book is a De Kooning lovers dream. A wonderful achievement in research and publishing. William J. Havlicek PhD.

This is an excellent catalogue of the de Kooning retrospective at MoMA in New York. There are high quality reproductions of the paintings and wonderful archival photographs from each period of de Kooning's career - like Robert Rauschenberg's black & white photographs of de Kooning's studio showing various early stages of the WOMEN series of paintings. Quite enlightening. There are also critical analyses of each period of de Kooning's work and a nice selection of his drawings are shown. There is even a scientific analysis of de Kooning's painting materials and methods from each artistic period provided at the end of each section. This book is well worth the price.

Although there is some "filler" with the same information being presented in different formats(time-lines, periods) the overall content of the survey is outstanding, if a bit overly wordy. The plates are great and numerous and well done. However, they cannot realistically (nor could they be expected to) offer the experience of seeing the works firsthand; the size and scale of most of the works is too large. In sum, if you were unable to get to the show, this book provides an excellent resource in which to appreciate the scope of de Kooning's work.

If you love the work of De Kooning, you must have this volume. When I have a coffee in my art studio, I always spend a few minutes with this wonderful book.

A massive volume published to accompany the retrospective exhibition of the artist`s work in 2011-12.As one would expect this is copiously illustrated; there are 658 illustrations, 528 in colour; fairly comprehensive, all periods of his 70-year output are covered with paintings, drawings and sculpture (not my favourite aspect of his work).The reproduction quality is good (though there have been better in some books – though sadly difficult to find) and some of of the illustrations are quite small given the size of the book – but this is a convenient go-to reference which – for me – is it`s primary use.Laid out in chronological order, the accompanying texts are scholarly and useful.Currently, it`s probably the best book on de Kooning.Despite any reservations, this is a magnificent book well worth tracking down if one can get it for a reasonable price.

to be honest, most art books I've ordered have been a bit of a disappointment in some way either big or small. but this book is everything one could wish for in an art book. big, heavy, excellent color reproductions and full of interesting biographical information and commentary. if you love de Kooning, you can't go wrong with this one.

Wonderful book - beautiful quality and really well written with fascinating insights into his world and sources of inspiration. Great value - love it!

Superb book. Beautiful colour plates. Even goes into detail regarding his actual methods of applying paint. Worth every penny.

It was one of many a gift for my husband's 70th Birthday and it more than met his expectations.