Willem de Kooning in his Studio 1961

Robert Frank made this image of Willem de Kooning in his studio sometime in the mid-twentieth century with a camera. What I like about this image is the tension between the artist and the detritus of the studio, the stuff of artmaking. De Kooning is in the foreground, seemingly relaxed, but there’s something watchful in his eyes, a guardedness perhaps. The table is covered with the things that might go into making a painting or a drawing: brushes, pots, jars, pencils, and a scattering of printed matter. The tonal range of the photograph is subtle, creating a shallow depth of field. The light falls on de Kooning, separating him from the background, which is hung with pictures, scraps, and clippings. In the background is one of de Kooning’s paintings, a small white canvas with a few dark gestural strokes. This understated, provisional painting in the background provides a clue to de Kooning’s wider practice, a process that balances accident with intention, as is Frank's photography here. It reminds me of Cy Twombly, both artists who valued that dance between control and chance.