With her grimacing face and distorted figure, Willem de Kooning’s 1950 ‘Woman I’ is an uneasy presence in modern art history and at present, a recurring one in the Chelsea galleries. She peers out from behind wide, stylized brushstrokes in a 1981 canvas by Roy Lichtenstein at Gagosian Gallery and shows up in several paintings by 91-year-old surreal-pop painter Peter Saul at Gladstone Gallery. Here, Saul’s ‘Woman’ rolls her eyes and smirks as she descends a staircase à la Duchamp’s 1912 ‘Nude Descending a Staircase.’ While Duchamp’s version shocked early 20th century art audiences and de Kooning’s presents an uncomfortably unflattering portrayal of a powerful maternal-goddess-sex worker, Saul’s version knowingly plays several roles while entertaining thoughts of her own. (On view in Chelsea through April 18th).
