Layer by Layer: Studying "Woman-Ochre"
The Getty Conservation Institute's technical study of the stolen painting "Woman-Ochre" uncovers some secrets behind one of Willem de Kooning's most well-known paintings.
A member of the abstract expressionists, Dutch-born de Kooning embarked on the Woman paintings of the early 1950s while working and living in New York. The paintings catapulted him to fame.
Painted between 1954 and 1955, Woman-Ochre was bought by a collector and donated to the University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) in Tucson, where it was displayed for 27 years.
The Theft
It was stolen in 1985 by a man and woman who cut it from its frame, rolled it up, and smuggled it out.
In 2017, an antiques dealers David Van Auker, Buck Burns, and Richard Johnson purchased the contents of the New Mexico home of Rita and Jerome Alter, former school teachers who had recently passed away.
In the home was an intriguing abstract portrait that hung in their bedroom, only visible when the door was shut.
After researching the painting online, Van Auker realized the painting had been stolen from the UAMA in 1985. He contacted the museum and the FBI who were able to confirm that it was indeed the missing painting.
Woman-Ochre suffered considerable damage during the theft when it was cut from its frame, violently pulled from the lining canvas, and hastily rolled up.
It was sent to Getty for technical study and conservation treatment in 2019.
XRF Scan of "Woman-Ochre" (1954–1955) at the Getty Conservation Institute studio (2019) by Photo: Sergio TorresThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Scientific Examination
A team of scientists at the Getty Conservation Institute carried out a scientific examination of the painting to better understand de Kooning’s materials and techniques.
Close up of XRF scan of "Woman-Ochre" (1954–1955) at the Getty Conservation Institute studio (2019) by Photo: Sergio TorresThe J. Paul Getty Museum
The results of the study provide our conservators with a baseline for evaluating the current condition of the painting as well as how best to preserve it for the future.
"Woman-Ochre" with reunited edges (© 2022 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / ARS, New York) (1954/1955) by Willem de KooningThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Typical of de Kooning, Woman-Ochre was painted on a commercially-prepared canvas. Here, an unprimed selvedge (or unfinished edging) is still visible on the left side of the canvas. The selvedge is a clue that this canvas was prepared in a factory and sold ready for painting.
De Kooning left the ground and preparation layers of the canvas—which are composed of chalk, zinc white, and lead white—visible throughout the background behind the figure.
De Kooning was constantly experimenting and his technique evolved throughout his long career.
He exploited the properties of new and unusual painting materials to achieve a wide range of effects and textures. Rough, granular surfaces were created through the addition of quartz directly to his paints. Adding non-drying oils, such as safflower oil, changed the gloss and prolonged drying time of his paints. He even scraped paint to reveal hidden underlayers.
Woman-Ochre was no exception.
Woman-Ochre (© 2022 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / ARS, New York) (1954–1955) by Willem de KooningThe J. Paul Getty Museum
The Paints
Analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed that most of the paints in Woman-Ochre are composed of an alkyd containing fatty acids similar to linseed oil. This formulation is known as a “drying oil alkyd.” In other words: he used house paints.
Compared to traditional artist’s oil paints, the industrial house paints de Kooning used in Woman-Ochre are much more fluid and rapidly dry to a solid film.
"Woman-Ochre" (1954–1955) under raked light (© 2022 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / ARS, New York) (1954/1955) by Willem de KooningThe J. Paul Getty Museum
A master technician, de Kooning achieved the multitude of colors and textures that we see across the surface of the painting by using brushes, paint scrapers, charcoal sticks, and other tools.
However, the presence of raised impasto in several areas suggests that de Kooning probably also used at least some traditional artist’s oil paints in Woman-Ochre.
The sharp, raised paint visible in the angular brown and yellow brushstrokes here, for example, are typical of artist’s oil paints.
Woman-Ochre (© 2022 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / ARS, New York) (1954–1955) by Willem de KooningThe J. Paul Getty Museum
As the title suggests, the overall palette of Woman-Ochre is composed of warm yellow, orange, and red tones.
The scientific examination revealed the presence of multiple yellow pigments including cadmium yellow, chromium yellow, strontium yellow, barium yellow, and zinc yellow.
Some of these yellow pigments were always detected together, suggesting they were probably present in commercially available mixtures.
De Kooning selectively added bright, cool, jewel-like tones—including phthalocyanine green and synthetic ultramarine blue—to contrast against the warm tones, creating tension and a sense of drama in the composition.
Materials and Techniques
Scanning x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy is an analytical technique that reveals the distribution of chemical elements detected over large areas. The element maps from Woman-Ochre revealed important clues pertaining to de Kooning’s materials and painting technique.
In the calcium map shown here, the sketchy, bright lines around the figure’s head indicate where unwanted paint was scraped away, all the way down to the calcium-rich ground layer.
"Woman-Ochre" with reunited edges (© 2022 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / ARS, New York) (1954/1955) by Willem de KooningThe J. Paul Getty Museum
In fact, an unscraped remnant of an older version of the figure is still visible on the edge of the canvas that was turned over the stretcher.
After scraping, de Kooning lowered the position of the figure’s head and filled the area with a gray paint to match the surrounding background.
Woman-Ochre (© 2022 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / ARS, New York) (1954–1955) by Willem de KooningThe J. Paul Getty Museum
De Kooning finalized the form of the woman by outlining her contours in a glossy black paint.
In some areas, there are signs that new paint was mixed into older paint that hadn’t yet dried, which supports the idea that de Kooning worked quickly in the studio.
This black paint is different from all the other paints analyzed in Woman-Ochre in that it contains a significant proportion of pine rosin, which is responsible for its high gloss. Thermal separation probe (TSP) GC-MS revealed the glossy black paint also contains phenanthrene, which is a chemical marker for coals. Coal-based glossy black paints have an almost obsidian-like quality and they shimmer on the canvas.
This important contrast between the glossy black and matte colors was lost after the painting was varnished, first in 1974 and again in the 1980s after the theft, but we can appreciate it once again after the conservation treatment at the Getty.
A cross section of Willem de Kooning's "Woman-Ochre" (2022) by Getty MuseumThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Charcoal is another carbon-based material that played an important role in de Kooning’s technique. Large, jagged black charcoal particles were observed throughout all the paints analyzed.
The ubiquity of charcoal in de Kooning’s paints is evidence for his merging of the traditionally separate modes of drawing and painting. De Kooning switched between these modes at every stage of creation.
The woman’s chest and torso are a good example of how his approach to drawing and painting allows him to rapidly manipulate the tonality of his paints.
Here, the bright yellow paint still visible in her breasts has become muted and cooled in her abdomen as the result of mixing wet paint and charcoal.
Some historical paints contain pigments that are chemically unstable and prone to degradation. Through our analysis, we can see how Woman-Ochre has changed over time.
Raman spectroscopy revealed that the dye used in the deep, translucent red paint (still visible in the figure’s shoulder) is a synthetic organic phenylxanthene derivative containing phosphotungstomolybdic acid, more commonly known as Rhodamine 6G.
Rhodamine 6G can fade in sunlight and our examination revealed that much of this red paint throughout Woman-Ochre has already faded, making the figure appear more muted in tone than what was probably originally intended by de Kooning.
The tungsten XRF map shows the original distribution of this paint, which was originally much more extensive than is currently visible.
The ability to identify and map this red paint also played a very important role in the conservation of Woman-Ochre. Exposing Rhodamine 6G to polar solvents—which are commonly used by conservators to remove discolored and obscuring varnishes from paintings—renders the pigment even more light sensitive.
The tungsten distribution map thus provided a road map for Getty paintings conservator Laura Rivers to safely remove the obscuring varnish from the areas containing the Rhodamine dye.
Microfade testing being performed on "Woman-Ochre" (1954–1955) (2019) by Kayla KeeThe J. Paul Getty Museum
Microfade testing (MFT) measures the sensitivity of a pigment to light and allows us to estimate its potential for fading in the future.
In the case of Woman-Ochre, MFT revealed this translucent red paint is still very much susceptible to light-induced fading, which helps conservators design proper guidelines for displaying the painting after treatment.
Woman-Ochre (© 2022 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / ARS, New York) (1954–1955) by Willem de KooningThe J. Paul Getty Museum
While understanding the myriad materials used in an artwork is critical for creating an informed approach to conservation and long-term preservation plan, the scientific examination of Woman-Ochre goes beyond merely identifying pigments and binding media.
The results and revelations made possible by the Getty Conservation Institute’s scientific study offer viewers a chance to appreciate de Kooning’s complex and mysterious painting on a deeper and more profound level than ever before.
© 2022 J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles
More resources:
The Willem de Kooning Foundation
Read an article on the painting and its return to University of Arizona Museum of Art.
Susan F. Lake. Willem de Kooning: The Artist's Materials. Getty Conservation Institute, 2010
View two videos about Getty's 2022 in-gallery exhibition Conserving de Kooning: Theft and Recovery:
The Stolen de Kooning: Recovery and Redemption
Getty restoration of Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre”
To cite this exhibition, please use: "Layer by Layer: Studying Woman-Ochre" published online in 2022 via Google Arts & Culture, Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
