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9780190498474

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"""A fascinating book both for its story of the life of a vibrant and talented woman, and its picture of the New York art scene of the 1940s and 1950s."" -- Jim Burns, The Penniless Press Online ""Cathy Curtis brings the bold, flamboyant, chain-smoking, boozy, sexually captivating de Kooning out of the shadows of abstract expressionism and into the spotlight as an important American painter, critic, and cultural force."" --Linda Leavell, author of Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore ""As lively, deft, and insightful as its subject, Cathy Curtis's biography will leave you feeling that you have done the town with Elaine de Kooning, painter, writer, and queen bee of mid-20th century American art.""-- Patricia Albers, author of Joan Mitchell, Lady Painter: A Life ""Elaine de Kooning was one of the most important figures in the Abstract Expressionist movement, a fact that has been largely ignored historically. Cathy Curtis's A Generous Vision helps introduce this remarkable painter and writer to those who have never had the pleasure of encountering her, and reveals Elaine in greater depth to those who may have thought they knew her.""-- Mary Gabriel, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist, and author of Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement that Changed Modern Art ""A GENEROUS VISION: The Creative Life of Elaine de Kooning (Oxford, October 2017) paints the life of Elaine de Kooning, a prime mover and vivacious social catalyst in the New York art scene of the mid-twentieth-century. Cathy Curtis speaks of Elaine as an incisive writer and diverse painters. Elaine was a celebrated portrait painter whose sitters involved diverse muses in her circle, including (most famously) John F. Kennedy. Elaine's fascination with people and animals in motion led her to paint moments such as bull fighting, basketball, Paleolithic cave paintings, and a multi- figure sculpture in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris."" -- Los Angeles Review of Books ""Meticulous and captivating biographer Curtis continues her quest to fully illuminate the lives and work of underappreciated women artists, following her portrait of painter Grace Hartigan in Restless Ambition (2015) with this vivid and clarifying chronicle of Elaine de Kooning. Curtis chronicles Elaine's diverse accomplishments and channels her radiant spirit and vibrant genius to indelible effect."" -- Booklist ""Biographies like Curtis's offer a corrective to art history and the art market, which too often focus on mythical art stars and singular 'geniuses.' Friends, lovers and associates can contribute equally to making, explaining and preserving artists' work and their legacies."" -- The New York Times ""Ms. Curtis's careful research allows her to raise pertinent questions about many stories and correct others, but she also presents alternative versions of some of the better-known incidents, gleaned from sources who were often vague about when things happened. These sometimes opposing quotations from a wide variety of Elaine's friends, colleagues and relations, threaded through the text, enliven the book."" -- Wall Street Journal"

A fascinating book both for its story of the life of a vibrant and talented woman, and its picture of the New York art scene of the 1940s and 1950s. -- Jim Burns, The Penniless Press Online Cathy Curtis brings the bold, flamboyant, chain-smoking, boozy, sexually captivating de Kooning out of the shadows of abstract expressionism and into the spotlight as an important American painter, critic, and cultural force. --Linda Leavell, author of Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore As lively, deft, and insightful as its subject, Cathy Curtis's biography will leave you feeling that you have done the town with Elaine de Kooning, painter, writer, and queen bee of mid-20th century American art. -- Patricia Albers, author of Joan Mitchell, Lady Painter: A Life Elaine de Kooning was one of the most important figures in the Abstract Expressionist movement, a fact that has been largely ignored historically. Cathy Curtis's A Generous Vision helps introduce this remarkable painter and writer to those who have never had the pleasure of encountering her, and reveals Elaine in greater depth to those who may have thought they knew her. -- Mary Gabriel, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist, and author of Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement that Changed Modern Art A GENEROUS VISION: The Creative Life of Elaine de Kooning (Oxford, October 2017) paints the life of Elaine de Kooning, a prime mover and vivacious social catalyst in the New York art scene of the mid-twentieth-century. Cathy Curtis speaks of Elaine as an incisive writer and diverse painters. Elaine was a celebrated portrait painter whose sitters involved diverse muses in her circle, including (most famously) John F. Kennedy. Elaine's fascination with people and animals in motion led her to paint moments such as bull fighting, basketball, Paleolithic cave paintings, and a multi- figure sculpture in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. -- Los Angeles Review of Books Meticulous and captivating biographer Curtis continues her quest to fully illuminate the lives and work of underappreciated women artists, following her portrait of painter Grace Hartigan in Restless Ambition (2015) with this vivid and clarifying chronicle of Elaine de Kooning. Curtis chronicles Elaine's diverse accomplishments and channels her radiant spirit and vibrant genius to indelible effect. -- Booklist Biographies like Curtis's offer a corrective to art history and the art market, which too often focus on mythical art stars and singular 'geniuses.' Friends, lovers and associates can contribute equally to making, explaining and preserving artists' work and their legacies. -- The New York Times Ms. Curtis's careful research allows her to raise pertinent questions about many stories and correct others, but she also presents alternative versions of some of the better-known incidents, gleaned from sources who were often vague about when things happened. These sometimes opposing quotations from a wide variety of Elaine's friends, colleagues and relations, threaded through the text, enliven the book. -- Wall Street Journal

Cathy Curtis brings the bold, flamboyant, chain-smoking, boozy, sexually captivating de Kooning out of the shadows of abstract expressionism and into the spotlight as an important American painter, critic, and cultural force. Linda Leavell, author of Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore As lively, deft, and insightful as its subject, Cathy Curtis's biography will leave you feeling that you have done the town with Elaine de Kooning, painter, writer, and queen bee of mid-20th century American art. Patricia Albers, author of Joan Mitchell, Lady Painter: A Life Elaine de Kooning was one of the most important figures in the Abstract Expressionist movement, a fact that has been largely ignored historically. Cathy Curtis's A Generous Vision helps introduce this remarkable painter and writer to those who have never had the pleasure of encountering her, and reveals Elaine in greater depth to those who may have thought they knew her. Mary Gabriel, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist, and author of Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement that Changed Modern Art

Author Information

Cathy Curtis, a former staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, is a graduate of Smith College with a master's degree in art history from the University of California, Berkeley. A member of the board of directors of Biographers International Organization (BIO), Curtis is the author of Restless Ambition: Grace Hartigan, Painter (2015).

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