Conserving Willem de Kooning’s Woman-Ochre

Willem de Kooning was born in the Netherlands and moved to New York in 1926. He was one of the pioneers and leaders of the abstract expressionist movement, which began in New York after World War II. In 1950, de Kooning began his best-known body of work, his “Woman” series of paintings, which included Woman-Ochre. The series is considered monumental in the way that it imagines the human figure.

On November 29, 1985 at the UAMA, Woman-Ochre was cut from its frame with a sharp blade, ripping the canvas off its lining and rolling it up to conceal it. It remained missing for 32 years. In August 2017 the painting and other items were purchased by Manzanita Ridge Furniture & Antiques at an estate sale in Cliff, New Mexico. After customers noticed the similarity to de Kooning’s work, Manzanita Ridge owner David Van Auker investigated then called the UAMA to retrieve the stolen painting.

Paints
De Kooning is known for using a range of paints, including house paints, which are far more fluid than conventional artist’s paints. He made extensive use of both media in Woman-Ochre.

Pigments
Scanning macro X-ray fluorescence was carried out across the entire painting to identify and map the chemical elements present, which can be indicative of particular pigments.

Charcoal
De Kooning made extensive use of charcoal as a drawing material. Unlike most artists, however, he had applied it throughout all stages of painting.

During the 1985 theft, Woman-Ochre suffered considerable damage as it was cut out of its frame, violently pulled from the lining canvas, and rolled up. Several tears, along with lifting and flaking paint, were just some of the issues Getty conservators faced when devising a multistep treatment plan for the painting.

Getty paintings conservators assessed the painting through extensive examination, using imaging techniques such as X-radiography, ultraviolet photography, infrared reflectography, and transmitted light photography. Getty scientists undertook a technical study of the painting to enhance understanding of the artist’s materials and techniques.

When Woman-Ochre arrived at the Getty for conservation in 2018, there were horizontal lines of cracked and damaged paint across the canvas, most likely caused from being rolled face-in during the theft. Getty conservators spent hundreds of hours setting down these paint flakes to flatten the artwork and secure loosened paint.

Once flattened, conservators removed two layers of varnish—one that had been applied at the Museum of Modern Art in the 1960s, and one that was applied under unknown conditions after the theft. De Kooning had never intended for the painting to be varnished. Removal of these varnishes brought the appearance of the painting closer to what the artist had intended.

The next step was to reunite the central portion of the canvas with the edges of the canvas, which had been left behind after the theft.

Inpainting was the final step. During this process parts of an artwork are filled in to compensate for losses to the paint layer.