Artwork App

Multi-color pastel drawing of sharply distorted human figures.

57.2 × 72.8 cm (22 1/2 × 28 5/8 in.)

Two Women's Torsos

A pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, Willem de Kooning experimented with the human form throughout his career, which reached its apex in the early 1950s with his celebrated Woman series. Two Women’s Torsos was created during an intense campaign in which the artist focused on drawings related to his Woman paintings, which were exhibited together with this and other drawings at the Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, in 1953.

De Kooning’s drawings are admired for their number and variety as well as for the artist’s expressive technique, exemplified here by his gestural use of pastel in concert with charcoal. This drawing’s velvety texture and almost violently animated surface are characteristic of the approximately one hundred sheets that remain from his intense work on the woman theme in 1952 and 1953. Also typical of de Kooning’s art is the way in which Two Women’s Torsos references aspects of related paintings but stands alone as an independent work. As the artist tried to jettison traditional modes of composition, he used drawing as a primary vehicle for the sequential development of his most important early body of work.

Credit Line

John H. Wrenn Memorial Collection

Colors

Exhibition History

New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, “Willem de Kooning: Paintings on the Theme of Woman,” Mar. 16-Apr. 11, 1953, cat. 8, no cat. New York, Museum of Modern Art, "New Images of Man," 1959-60, pp. 94 (ill.) and 153, cat. 63; traveled to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, “Willem de Kooning,” September 19–November 17, 1968, organized by the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, cat. by Thomas B. Hess; traveled to London, Tate Gallery, December 5, 1968–January 26, 1969, New York, Museum of Modern Art, March 6–April 27, 1969, Art Institute of Chicago, May 17–July 6, 1969, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, July 29–September 14, 1969, p. 165, cat. 127 as "Two Women"; Dutch cat., n.pag., cat. 111 (ill.). Chicago, Richard Gray Gallery, "Willem de Kooning, 1941-1959," Oct. 4-Nov. 16, 1974, n.p., cat. 15 (ill.), as "Two Women." Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, "Drawings by Five Abstract Expressionist Painters," Jan. 10-Feb. 29, 1976, n.p., as "Two Women, c. 1952-53." New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, "Willem de Kooning: Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture," Dec. 7, 1983-Feb. 19, 1984, p. 59, cat. 54 (ill.). Art Institute of Chicago, "Edgar Degas: Passing on the Tradition: Prints and Drawings," Sept. 1, 1996-Jan. 26, 1997, no cat. Art Institute of Chicago, "The Broad Spectrum: Color on Paper, Past and Present," Sept. 12–Oct. 31, 1999, no cat. Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, "Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure," Feb. 10-Apr. 28, 2002, pp. title page (detail), 148 (ill.) and 195, cat. 70, as "Torsos, Two Women, c. 1952-53;" traveled to The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Sept. 29, 2002-Jan. 5, 2003. Art Institute of Chicago, "Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper," Mar. 24-Sept. 13, 2009, no cat. New York, Museum of Modern Art, "de Kooning: a Retrospective", Sept. 18, 2011-Jan. 9, 2012, p. 267-68, pl. 90. Art Institute of Chicago, "Willem de Kooning Drawing", June 14 - September 20, 2026, traveled to Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, October 9, 2026 - January 17, 2027, pp. 8, 26, 97, 105, 201, (ill.), 311 (ill.), 312 pl. 87. cat. by Kevin Salatino, Mel Becker Solomon, et. al.