Willem de Kooning (1904–1997) was one of America’s most influential artists. Born in Rotterdam, he moved to New York when twenty-two years old, where his European training setting him aside from his American contemporaries as he developed into one of the leading exponents of Abstract Expressionism, or the New York School. He was first and foremost a painter, but this book also includes his works as draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. Throughout his career his painting fluctuated between figurative and abstract styles, working particularly on themes of women and landscape.

Judith Zilczer, Curator Emerita of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, organized more than two dozen exhibitions in her twenty-nine years at the museum, where she served as Historian, Curator of Paintings, and Acting Chief Curator. Her exhibition publications include Willem de Kooning from the Hirshhorn Museum Collection (1993). She has written and lectured widely on modern and contemporary art, and is recognized as a leading authority on the art of Willem de Kooning.