"Collectively, the pictures, which seem to glow with an inner light and exult in clear and ravishing color, exude a joyfulness that is contagious. They remind you that even during bleak times, art can offer emotional and spiritual solace like nothing else." -David Bonetti, San Francisco Examiner

Willem de Kooning: The Late Paintings, The 1980s, the first full-scale exhibition to survey the last paintings by one of the 20th century's most influential and highly acclaimed artists, will be on view at the Walker Art Center February 4-May 8. Co-organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Walker, the exhibition features 35 sensual, large-scale paintings, on loan from collections in the United States and Europe, that span the period from 1981 to 1987 and represent what critics have widely hailed as an extraordinary body of work.

Opening-weekend activities include a preview party from 9 pm-12 midnight on Friday, February 2, and a lecture by exhibition curator Gary Garrels at 2 pm Saturday, February 3. Related programming in March includes a Second Sunday Tour (March 10), a lecture by T. J. Clark, and a Free First Saturday event for families (March 2).

Born in 1904 in Rotterdam, de Kooning moved to the United States in 1926, soon settling in New York City. Along with contemporaries Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman, he first came to notice in the late 1940s as one of the pioneers of a style that would become known as Abstract Expressionism, a movement that brought American art at that time to the forefront of international attention.

During his nearly 60-year career, de Kooning was known to periodically reinvent his style of painting. He created a stir in the 1950s when he turned away from pure abstraction, which by then had reached critical acclaim, to paint figures, producing his monumental Women series. His paintings of the 1960s and 1970s alternated in subject matter between the landscape and the figure, and were characterized by their heavily painted surfaces, bold brush strokes, and richly variegated colors.

In 1980, at the age of 76, de Kooning again shifted to a new mode of painting. The density of his previous canvases gave way to a series of large-scale works displaying open forms, spare surfaces, and a sharply reduced palette concentrating in the primary colors--red, yellow, and blue--at times complemented with subtle tones of green, violet, and orange. Color, light, and the weave of forms across and against the surface of these works absorb the viewer's attention; while the paintings remain resolutely abstract, allusions to both the human body and pastoral landscape are present in equal measure.

This exhibition contains works made between 1981 and 1987. In 1989 de Kooning was diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and in 1990, at the age of 86, he ceased to paint. Despite various debates that have been launched concerning the nature of aging as it impacts the creative process, exhibition curator Gary Garrels asserts that de Kooning's 1980s paintings are of particular interest in light of larger stylistic issues in late work of artists such as Titian, Monet, or Matisse, who worked to an advanced age; and that they "are among the most beautiful, sensual, and exuberant abstract works by any modern painter." De Kooning's late paintings have been collected by many individuals and museums and have been widely hailed by critics as an extraordinary body of work-reaffirming an artistic achievement that has left its mark indelibly on the history of modern painting.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated, 144-page scholarly catalogue, copublished by the Walker Art Center and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, that fully documents this body of work for the first time. It is available at the Walker Art Center Shops: hardcover $50 ($37.50); softcover $29.95 ($22.47).

Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by Leanne and George Roberts, Mimi and Peter Haas, and the Modern Art Council of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The Walker Art Center presentation of this exhibition is made possible by Voyageur Companies. Promotional sponsorship provided by Dayton's.

Major support for Walker Art Center programs is provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, The Bush Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, Target Stores, Dayton's, and Mervyn's by the Dayton Hudson Foundation, the Northwest Area Foundation, the General Mills Foundation, the Institute of Museum Services, Burnet Realty, the American Express Minnesota Philanthropic Program, the Honeywell Foundation, Northwest Airlines, Inc., The Regis Foundation, The St. Paul Companies, Inc., the 3M Foundation, and the members of the Walker Art Center.

RELATED EVENTS
Willem de Kooning: The Late Paintings, The 1980s

OPENING-WEEKEND PREVIEW PARTY
Friday, February 2, 9 pm-12 midnight
$20 ($10)
Festivities include live music, hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar. For tickets, call the Walker box office at 375-7622.

OPENING-WEEKEND LECTURE
With Exhibition Curator Gary Garrels
"Willem De Kooning: I Have to Change to Stay the Same"
Saturday, February 3, 2 pm
$5 ($4)
Garrels, Elise S. Haas Chief Curator and Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, will focus on the reasons and criteria for curating an exhibition of de Kooning's late paintings and will locate them in the context of the artist's career.

SECOND SUNDAY TOUR
Passages
Sunday, March 10, 2 pm
Free with Gallery Admission
Take a look at life's passages as revealed in the art found in the Walker's permanent collection and in the exhibition Willem de Kooning: The Late Paintings, The 1980s. Meet in the lobby.

LECTURE
T. J. Clark
(Date, time, and price to be announced)
Timothy C. Clark, professor of the History of Art at U.C. Berkeley and author of numerous books on modernism, will discuss the work of Willem de Kooning.

FAMILY PROGRAMS
FREE FIRST SATURDAY
Line, Color, and Form
Saturday, March 2, 11 am-4 pm
"There are three toads at the bottom of my garden: line, color, and form." -Willem de Kooning
Explore abstraction and the elements of line, color, and form in paintings, dance, and film. The day's activities include a dance performance, a drop-in art activity, gallery tours, and a program of short films. All activities are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Performance: Concrete Farm, 11 am
Auditorium
Five choreographers dance with expressive energy and grace in an original performance that explores levels of abstraction. 45 minutes.

Film Screening: Abstract Motion, 12 noon and 2 pm
Lecture Room
Explore the elements of color, line, and shape in this program of short films and videos. Running time: 40 minutes.

Drop-In Art Activity: Bold Strokes, 12 noon-4 pm
Outer Lobby
Create abstract paintings using plastic lids, combs, and twigs as brushes. Led by Elaine Johnson.

Gallery Tour: Dance Tour for Families, 1 pm
Galleries 1, 2, 3
Concrete Farm members lead families in movement responses to the paintings of Willem de Kooning. Meet at the lobby desk.

Gallery Tour: Family Tour of the Permanent Collection, 2 pm
Galleries 4, 5, 6
Learn about abstract works of art in the permanent collection. Meet at the lobby desk.

Free First Saturdays are made possible by Burnet Realty. Saturday family programming is made possible by the Northwest Area Foundation, Dayton's, the Medtronic Foundation, the US WEST Foundation, and the National Council of Jewish Women, St. Paul Section. Free First Saturdays are part of the "New Definitions/New Audiences" initiative. This museum-wide project to engage visitors in a re-examination of 20th-century art is made possible by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.

SUNDAY-AFTERNOON FAMILY WORKSHOPS
Three Toads, Two Gardeners
Discover the roles of line, form, and color in the work of Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell in these hands-on workshops designed for 3-8 year olds and their parents. After visits to the exhibitions Willem de Kooning: The Late Paintings and Robert Motherwell: Reality and Abstraction, participants learn about a rich array of art materials and techniques from painter Ilene Krug Mojsilov.
Single-session tickets are $4 ($3). Buy tickets to two of the workshops and attend the third for free. (NOTE: Please wear painting clothes to all workshops.)

Taking Shape
Sunday, March 10, 1-2:30 pm
Using puzzle pieces and other objects found in the Art Lab for inspiration, make bold wax and ink paintings on muslin.

Lines Left Behind
Sunday, March 17, 1-2:30 pm
Trace the edges of landscape photos to make outlines for paintings you complete with acrylics, palette knives, and cardboard.

Little To Big
Sunday, March 24, 1-2:30 pm
Make big drawings from tiny charcoal sketches by projecting and tracing them onto the wall.
Upside Down, All Around
Sunday, March 31, 1-2:30 pm
Play with color and composition in paintings you create inspired by spaghetti, feathers, and bones.

About the Teacher
In addition to teaching family workshops at the Walker, painter Ilene Krug Mojsilov is a roster artist for the Minnesota State Arts Board and The Depot in Duluth.
Sunday-Afternoon Workshops are made possible by Bloomingdale's.
($) = ticket price for Walker members, seniors, AFDC cardholders, groups of 10 or more)