1996.25: Two Nude Figures

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1996.25

People

Willem de Kooning, American (Rotterdam, Netherlands 1904 - 1997 East Hampton, NY)

Title

Two Nude Figures

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

1950

Culture

American

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/305769

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Graphite on heavy beige wove paper

Dimensions

48.4 x 56.1 cm (19 1/16 x 22 1/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: graphite, lower center: de Kooning '50

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New York], sold to Lois Orswell, Pomfret Center, Connecticut, 1957, gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1996.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell

Copyright

© The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Accession Year

1996

Object Number

1996.25

Division

Modern and Contemporary Art

Contact

am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

• Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums Annual Report 1995-96, Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin (Cambridge, MA, Summer 1997), vol. V, no. 3, p. 16, ill.
• Modern Art at Harvard, exh. cat., Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan, 1999), cat. no. 65, repr. (color)
• James Cuno, ed., A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions by the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, Mass., Spring 2000), pp. 79-80, ill.
• Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 28, fig. 114, pp. 76, 371, 377
• Cornelia H. Butler and Paul Schimmel, Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure, exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Princeton University Press (Los Angeles, CA and Princeton, NJ, 2002), checklist (no number), p. 195, repr. color, pl. 34, n.p. and repr. color, p. 176
• Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Friends: Works from the Lois Orswell Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., Knoedler & Co. Inc. (New York, 2003), cat. no. 2, repr. (color)
• Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, auct. cat., Christie's, New York (May 1, 2012), p. 146, fig. 4 (ill.)

Exhibition History

• Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
• A Decade of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions of Prints and Drawings from 1940 to 2000, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/03/2000 - 08/27/2000
• Willem de Kooning: Tracing the Figure, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 02/10/2002 - 04/28/2002
• Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
• Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Friends: Works from the Lois Orswell Collection, Harvard University, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 11/14/2003 - 01/24/2004
• Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/12/2025 - 01/18/2026

Verification Level