Analysis of Woman-Ochre

In 1950 Willem de Kooning, a pioneer and leader of the abstract expressionist movement, began his best-known body of work, the Woman series. A painting in the series, Woman-Ochre (1954–55), was gifted to the University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) in Tucson in 1958 by collector Edward Joseph Gallagher Jr. It was regularly exhibited at UAMA and loaned to important exhibitions on de Kooning.

On the day after Thanksgiving in 1985, Woman-Ochre was cut from its frame and stolen, and it remained missing for the next thirty-two years. In August 2017 antiques dealer David Van Auker purchased a group of items including the painting at a posthumous estate sale of an Arizona couple. While the painting was displayed in his New Mexico store, several customers commented on its resemblance to de Kooning’s work, prompting Van Auker to research the artist and connect the painting with the 1985 theft. Van Auker contacted UAMA staff, who retrieved the painting and brought it back to the museum.

Despite the painting’s discovery, the theft remains unsolved, and the FBI investigation into who stole the painting continues. Badly damaged during the theft and from its decades-long disappearance, Woman-Ochre needed professional care.

The Conservation Institute is well versed in the work of de Kooning. In 2010 it worked closely with Susan Lake, then-head of Collection Management and chief conservator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, on an in-depth study of de Kooning’s paintings from the 1940s through the 1970s, published by Getty as Willem de Kooning: The Artist’s Materials.

Through an agreement with the University of Arizona, conservators at the Getty Museum and scientists at the Conservation Institute worked together to study, repair, clean, conserve, and document the painting. This work included reuniting it with the original frame and repairing and restoring remnants of the canvas that were left behind after the theft. The collaborative project was also a teaching opportunity, providing access and information to graduate-level conservation and science students at local universities, as well as those from the University of Arizona.

Opening June 7, 2022, Conserving de Kooning: Recovery of a Masterpiece displayed the newly conserved Woman-Ochre alongside a look at the role of the Conservation Institute’s Science department, whose staff employed a range of analytical techniques to investigate the materials de Kooning used and how he applied them to the canvas.

Identifying his materials and techniques proved essential for understanding the condition of the work and developing the appropriate conservation strategy. In particular, macro X-ray fluorescence helped map specific pigments across the work’s surface, and cross sections clearly showed de Kooning’s extensive use of charcoal at several stages of the painting. Organic analysis confirmed the wide use of alkyd-based house paints, and microfade testing was used to measure the light sensitivity of pigments and pinpoint any fading.

The painting returned to the University of Arizona in fall 2022.