Art Institute of Chicago Announces Willem de Kooning Drawing Show

The Art Institute of Chicago is due to open Willem de Kooning Drawing on June 14 (through September 20). The exhibition will focus on de Kooning's works on paper, showing the importance of drawing in the Abstract Expressionist's career.

The exhibition, which is the Art Institute's first de Kooning solo show since 1969, investigates the central role of drawing throughout the Abstract Expressionist artist's career, illustrating how his works on paper informed and intersected with his painting, sculpture, and prints.

Trained at the Academy of Visual Arts and Technical Sciences in Rotterdam, de Kooning achieved a remarkable command of traditional drawing techniques while still in his teens. He arrived in the the US in 1926 aged 22 as a stowaway.

Among the 200 works on show will be loans from private and public collections, including from MoMA New York.

The exhibition is supported by the Willem de Kooning Foundation. Additional backing comes from the Harris Family Foundation, The Regenstein Foundation Fund, and the Maureen & Edward Byron Smith, Jr. Exhibition Endowment Fund.