Elaine de Kooning
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Elaine Marie de Kooning (1918-1989), was an abstract expressionist and semi-realistic painter. She was born as Elaine Marie Fried on March 12, 1918 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. One year later, 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 Art News. 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 relationship of the de Koonings was difficult. 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 separated during several years in the 1960s, and both had several 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 path to sobriety. In their later years, they had millions of dollars due to the successful sales of her husband's works.
Elaine was a chain smoker, which eventually led to her death by lung cancer on February 1, 1989.