“I love to be on those highways. And they are really not very pretty, but the big embankments and the shoulders of the roads and the curves are flawless—the lawning of it, the grass… When I was working on this picture, this thing came to me: it’s just like the Merritt Parkway… I don’t think I set out to do anything. But I find, because of modern painting, that things which couldn’t be seen in terms of painting, things you couldn’t paint… it’s not that you paint them but it is in the connection”
H aving remained in the same private collection for almost 30 years, Souvenir of Toulouse (1958) is a rare and emblematic example of Willem de Kooning’s masterful painterly practice to be offered at auction in Asia. Executed during de Kooning’s critical years of 1957-1959, the present work derives from an important period of transition in the artist’s career during which de Kooning started to turn his focus away from New York City. In 1957, de Kooning began to frequently shuttle between New York City and Long Island, deriving inspiration from the motorways; his paintings of the late 1950s reflect the landscape as seen from a moving car, evoking the subjective vision of blurred horizons, fields, and roads. These works, which the critic Thomas B. Hess later described as the “abstract parkway landscapes”, were some of the most gesturally expressive paintings de Kooning had made to date, exuding a palpable velocity and demonstrating a strong new dependence on colour rather than his previous penchant for line. Indeed, Souvenir of Toulouse was bought by Thomas B. Hess—a highly influential figure in the art world who was an early and ardent champion of Abstract Expressionism; friend and proponent of de Kooning; author of numerous of the artist’s monographs; and the organizer of de Kooning’s landmark mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1969—and remained in his collection until after his death, testament to the importance of the present work as a signature example from this pivotal period in de Kooning’s inimitable career.
The “abstract parkway landscapes” were first exhibited at the artist’s third one-person show at Sidney Janis Gallery on 4 May 1959, showcasing 22 abstract works on paper and on canvas. The exhibition was an immediate and resounding hit with critics and collectors alike, with visitors lining up outside the door from 8:15am; 19 works sold by noon; and the three-remaining sold by the end of the week. At the debut of this series at Sidney Janis Gallery, Hess observed: “most of them are landscapes and highways and sensations of that, outside the city, with the feeling of coming to the city or coming from it… paintings, angles and sections from the breasts and elbows of [de Kooning’s] Women, from the windows that open to their landscapes, from their hands that had turned into meadows” (Thomas B. Hess cited in Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art, de Kooning: A Retrospective, 2011-2012, pp. 317-8). Today, not only do paintings on canvas from this series belong to such pre-eminent museum collections as the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, but comparable works on paper from 1957-1958 are held in such esteemed collections as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
De Kooning’s Abstract Parkway Landscapes in Prominent Collections
Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum © Buffalo AKG Art Museum/Art Resource, NY/Scala, Florence
In Souvenir of Toulouse, the broad simplification of its composition is matched by a reduction of palette to royal blue, sunlit gold and both a creamy and pearlescent white, emblematic of the new expansiveness and infused glow of his late 1950s abstractions. There is a distinct airiness in the present work which stands out amongst the other works of the “abstract parkway landscapes”, evoking the image of sunlight streaming through a car window, and a flash of the Atlantic Ocean as the car speeds by. Like Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park paintings, here de Kooning abridges a planar abstraction of space that seems to suggest the sun and sea as it pours through a window frame—his guiding graphite marks found in works of this series, reveal a heightened acuity to the spatial organization of a subjectively mediated landscape.
Further, by cropping the work at the edges, the present work suggests a snapshot of a larger scene, as Jennifer Field observes: “an emphasis on a monumental compositional structure and a reduced palette give the abstract parkway paintings the appearance of magnified segments of other works” (Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art, de Kooning: A Retrospective, 2011-2012, pp. 318). Hess further noted the changes in de Kooning’s pictorial vocabulary that are clear in the present work; “shapes are reduced to wide, smooth areas…yellow makes a heavy accent…Forms become larger, more simple, and continuous; colours become fewer in number, cleaner, more intense, and more concentrated on primary contrasts” (Thomas B. Hess, Willem de Kooning, New York 1969, pp. 102-3).
In Souvenir of Toulouse, the selective, dazzling palette, muscular sweeping gestures and balanced configuration emphasize the texture of paint and the artist’s luxuriant celebration of his medium, establishing the work as a superlative example of this pivotal “abstract parkway landscape” series. Further, with its important provenance and impressive exhibition history—having been showcased in landmark exhibitions including the artist’s traveling retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (December 1983 - September 1984) and Willem de Kooning: Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (September 1994 and May 1995)—Souvenir of Toulouse is a museum-quality work by one of the most important figures of Abstract Expressionism.
「我喜歡在那些高速公路上行駛。它們並不十分美麗，但它那大堤、路肩、曲綫、草坪和青草… 都是完美的— 我在創作此畫作時，一個念頭浮現眼前：這就像梅里特高速路（Merritt Parkway）… 我不認爲我有計劃去做些什麽，但我發現，在現代繪畫，那些在畫中看不到的，你描繪不到的… 你沒有把它們畫出來，但它們在連結中的確存在。」
威 廉・德庫寧標志性的傑出畫作《圖盧茲紀念品》（1958）在同一私人收藏保存了近30年後，現今將再次亮相，並罕有地登上亞洲拍場。此作畫於1957年至1959年，為德庫寧藝術生涯中一個重要轉捩點。這期間，德庫寧開始淡出紐約市，放眼他方。
1957年，德庫寧開始頻繁游走於紐約市和長島兩地，並從途中看見的高速公路獲得大量靈感。他在1950年代末期的畫作描繪了行車時的風景視野，那些模糊不清的水平綫、田野和有趣道路紛紛映入眼簾。評論家托馬斯・B・赫斯後來將這時期的畫作形容為「抽象公路風景畫」，畫面洶湧澎湃，為德庫寧至今最具表達色力的作品之一。與過去偏愛線條的風格相比，這些作品展示了藝術家對色彩有新一番強烈依賴。
事實上，購入《圖盧茲紀念品》的正是托馬斯・B・赫斯。他是藝術界舉足輕重的大人物，從早期已經熱情支持抽象表達主義；他是德庫寧的好友兼支持者，寫下無數有關藝術家的專著；亦為他在1969年於紐約現代美術博物館舉辦了標志性的中期回顧展。直至赫斯去世後，《圖盧茲紀念品》一直保存在他的收藏中，證明了這幅畫作無可比擬的地位，是德庫寧創作生涯中這關鍵時期的代表作。
這批「抽象公路風景畫」於1959年5月4日在西德尼・詹尼斯畫廊舉辦的藝術家第三次個展上首次亮相。該展覽共展出了22幅抽象畫作，包括紙張和畫布上的作品。展覽獲得了空前成功，受到評論家和收藏家的高度讚賞。早上8時15分，就有訪客在門外排隊等候入場；到中午前，已經售出了十九幅作品；而最後三幅作品也在週末售出。
這系列作品首次亮相於西德尼・詹尼斯畫廊時，赫斯觀察到：「畫作大部分描繪了風景和公路，瀰漫著於城市內外進返的感覺... 這些畫作融入了 [庫寧名作]《女人》中胸部和手肘的角度和部分、車窗與風景之間的過渡，以及從手部轉為田野的變化。」（托馬斯・B・赫斯，摘自《de Kooning: A Restrospective》展覽圖錄，現代藝術博物館，紐約，2011年至2012年，頁317-318）。如今，這一系列油畫作品被收藏在底特律藝術學院和洛杉磯縣藝術博物館等頂尖博物館中，而畫於 1957 年至 1958 年的相應紙上作品，現為紐約所的羅門·R·古根漢美術館和澳洲國立美術館等知名收藏機構所擁有。
《圖盧茲紀念品》以極度簡化的構圖呈現，配以皇家藍、太陽金、奶白和珍珠白色，象徵著藝術家畫於1950年代末的抽象作品中所展現的嶄新廣闊感，以及光輝燦爛的氛圍。此作給人猶如陽光透過車窗灑落，或車輛飛馳時匆匆一瞥大西洋的片刻，散發出一種獨特的輕盈感，與其他「抽象公路風景畫」作品截然不同。就像理查德·迪本科恩的《海洋公園》畫作一樣，庫寧縮減了對空間的平面抽象描繪，似乎隱含陽光和海洋透過窗框傾瀉而入的意向。她在此系列所留下的鉛筆痕跡，亦揭示了藝術家的主觀世界對空間組織有非凡的敏銳度。
此外，透過裁剪作品的邊緣處，此作看似是一個更大場景的快照。正如詹妮弗・菲爾德所觀察到：「這些抽象公路畫用上大尺寸構圖和精簡色調，看起來像是放大了其他作品的一部分。」（摘自《de Kooning: A Restrospective》展覽圖錄，現代藝術博物館，紐約，2011-2012年，頁318）。赫斯進一步指出，庫寧的繪畫詞彙在此作可見明顯變化：「形狀被簡化成更寬闊順滑的區域，黃色成為畫中重要的強調……形態變得更巨大、更簡單、更連貫；顏色的數量變得更少，更顯乾淨、更見強烈，更集中在主要對比上。」（托馬斯・B・赫斯，摘自《 Willem de Kooning 》，現代藝術博物館，紐約，1969年，頁102-3）
《圖盧茲紀念品》用上令人眼花繚亂的色調，有力而流暢的筆觸以及精心平衡的構圖，凸顯了油彩的質感，並展現出藝術家對這媒材的華麗讚美，使作品成為其「抽象公路風景畫」系列的卓越典範。此外，此作來源顯赫，並擁有輝煌的展覽歷史，曾在多個重要展覽展出，包括藝術家在紐約惠特尼美國藝術博物館和巴黎龐畢度中心國立現代藝術博物館的巡迴回顧展（1983年12月至1984年9月），以及在華盛頓特區國家藝術博物館和紐約大都會藝術博物館的《Willem de Kooning: Paintings》展覽（1994年9月和1995年5月）。毋容置疑，《圖盧茲紀念品》堪稱為博物館級的高級傑作，世上難得一見。庫寧作為抽象表現主義的巨擘之一，實在當之無愧。