00:24In the 1930s and 1940s he was part of a group of artists in New York
00:29who really found their own style. It was called abstract expressionism, but for de Koning
00:34it was never really 100% abstract. He would always return to the human figure. Other artists
00:42kind of saw him as a traitor because they thought we left that behind the human body,
00:46we're not doing it anymore. But de Koning really, he just followed his own path and
00:50the human body throughout his entire career would keep coming back.
01:01They were controversial for two reasons. First of all, because he was painting women
01:07where everyone else was doing abstract art. But also because he was painting women in a
01:12very frontal stance. They are looking straight at you. They're not really conventional beauties.
01:19And I think if we look at that now, they're actually, I don't really see them as victims.
01:24They have broad shoulders. They look you directly in the eyes.
