Drawing and Discovering

Elaine de Kooning’s mother was a formative influence in her life, introducing her to art and literature at an early age. Her mother’s outlandish, autocratic personality—and her institutionalization for child neglect when Elaine was six years old—also served as a cautionary example. Praised by teachers for her drawing skills and active in school sports, Elaine was highly competitive from an early age. After excelling at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York, she enrolled at Hunter College. But she soon left to attend an art school in Manhattan. Her boyfriend, artist Milton Resnick, encouraged her to switch to the more radically progressive American Artists School. Another artist boyfriend introduced her to Willem de Kooning, who had emigrated from the Netherlands. Elaine was instantly smitten with him and with his paintings.