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Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Elaine de Kooning, 12 Mar 1918 - 1 Feb 1989
Sitter
Ornette Coleman, 9 Mar 1930 - 11 Jun 2015
Date
c. 1965
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")
Topic
Music\Musical instrument\Saxophone
Ornette Coleman: Male
Ornette Coleman: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Composer
Ornette Coleman: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Horn player\Saxophonist
Ornette Coleman: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Jazz musician
Ornette Coleman: Pulitzer Prize
Ornette Coleman: Grammy
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Elaine de Kooning Trust
Object number
NPG.96.195
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).
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view