Clamdigger – Willem de Kooning (1904-1997). Copyright credit the Willem de Kooning Foundation Artists Rights Society (ARS).
The most important sculpture of the Abstract Expressionist Movement, Willem de Kooning’s Clamdigger, will lead Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art sale in New York on November 12. Part of de Kooning’s personal collection since it was created in 1972, Clamdigger is widely recognized alongside Giacometti’s Walking Man as a crowning achievement in expressive 20th century sculpture. de Kooning pushed the boundaries of what was possible in sculpture and launched a creative Renaissance of his art in the 1970’s. A rare male subject for an artist famous for his highly expressionistic depiction of monumental women, de Kooning kept this work for himself; several art historians assert it became a surrogate self-portrait, depicting with the most brutal honesty an artist in his sixties conscious of humanity and his mortality. De Kooning would confront his Clamdigger every day, positioning it with pride of place by the entrance to his studio.
The majority of the ten casts belong to major institutions and foundations around the world, including The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Glenstone Foundation in Potomac, Maryland, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Daros Foundation in Switzerland and the Centre George Pompidou in Paris. Clamdigger was also a highlight of the highly celebrated De Kooning: A Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2011.
The sale is on behalf of the Lisa de Kooning Trust. She was his only child and Clamdigger is being sold by his three grand daughters to fulfil the tax obligations of their mother’s estate. It is estimated at $25-35 million.