Object Details
- Artist
- Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
- Sitter
- Ornette Coleman, 9 Mar 1930 - 11 Jun 2015
- Exhibition Label
- Ornette Coleman #1
- At some point in the mid-1960s, Elaine, who had always been fond of jazz, made a series of drawings of Ornette Coleman (born 1930) with his saxophone. The album Free Jazz (1961) by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet—with its lengthy track and freewheeling, atonal, and discordant sound—changed the shape of jazz.
- Through erasure, stumping, and improvisational graphite lines, Elaine created drawings that capture Coleman’s likeness while giving a visual sense of jazz’s rhythm and movement. She made at least three likenesses: this improvisational sketch, a drawing focused entirely on Coleman’s disembodied head (displayed to the right), and a more finished image that includes Coleman’s hands and his saxophone (in a private collection).
- En algún momento de mediados de los sesenta, Elaine, eterna aficionada del jazz, hizo una serie de dibujos de Ornette Coleman (nacido en 1930) con su saxofón. El álbum Free Jazz (1961) del Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, con sus largas pistas y su sonido libre, atonal y discordante, cambió el rumbo del jazz.
- Valiéndose de borraduras, difuminados y líneas improvisadas en grafito, Elaine creó dibujos que captan la imagen de Coleman y transmiten una sensación visual del ritmo y el movimiento del jazz. Hizo por lo menos tres retratos: este boceto improvisado, un dibujo de la cabeza sin cuerpo de Coleman (mostrado a la derecha) y una imagen más terminada que incluye las manos y el saxofón (ahora en una colección privada).
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- c. 1965
- Object number
- NPG.96.195
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © Elaine de Kooning Trust
- Type
- Drawing
- Medium
- Graphite with stumping on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 30.2cm x 23.2cm (11 7/8" x 9 1/8")
- Sheet: 34.5cm x 28cm (13 9/16" x 11")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Music\Musical instrument\Saxophone
- Ornette Coleman: Male
- Ornette Coleman: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Music\Musician\Composer
- Ornette Coleman: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Music\Musician\Horn player\Saxophonist
- Ornette Coleman: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Music\Musician\Jazz musician
- Ornette Coleman: Literary awards\Pulitzer Prize
- Ornette Coleman: Performing arts awards\Grammy
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.96.195
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm40fde9e65-02f4-4432-aff6-ff4940ca2352
