Spring 1965

Curator: Here we have Elaine de Kooning’s 1965 watercolor titled "Spring". Editor: It feels like a memory of a landscape rather than a depiction, full of the light and movement of springtime, but not overly descriptive. Curator: I agree. De Kooning's dynamic brushstrokes certainly capture the vitality we associate with the season. Note the emphasis on chromatic intensity through juxtapositions of blues, greens, and browns; this builds structure but evokes rather than defines. Editor: The blues could represent water reflecting the sky. Blues and greens have strong ties with nature. Does her color palette have roots in naturalistic or symbolistic landscape traditions? Is de Kooning using spring as an optimistic signifier, culturally speaking? Curator: I would posit that de Kooning's use of color, while suggestive, transcends pure symbolism. The way the pigment diffuses and interacts with the paper is a formal gesture – an investigation of painting’s intrinsic qualities. She's manipulating the inherent properties of the medium to activate the visual field. Editor: But even abstraction carries symbolic weight. Perhaps the indistinct forms speak to the ephemeral nature of springtime itself, always changing, hard to pin down, a bit restless, but beautiful nonetheless. Also, consider that de Kooning might allude to environmental awareness that would impact cultural sensibilities during that decade. Curator: A compelling point about capturing ephemeral essence! To look closely, though, allows me to admire de Kooning's engagement with the picture plane and how abstract expressionism is pushing the concept of space further into abstraction. The gestures themselves generate that dynamism. Editor: So much is contained within such gestural marks and abstract forms. Spring is often a metaphor for new beginnings and potential. Curator: Yes. Thank you for sharing your perspective on how the symbolic overlays the formalism, to better appreciate "Spring." Editor: My pleasure; perhaps we can see how form reflects culturally embedded notions, allowing de Kooning to generate visual and symbolic resonances that capture something about renewal in her artistic practice and ours.