Acrylic on canvas, 1974, signed 'de Looper' and dated on the reverse, with label from Max Protech, NY. 44 x 45 in., 51 x 47 in. (frame). Note: Born in the Netherlands, painter Willem de Looper immigrated to Washington, D.C. at the age of seventeen. He studied fine art at American University and then served two years in the army. On his return to Washington in 1959, he took a job as a museum guard at the Phillips Collection. He worked his way through the ranks at the Museum, becoming an assistant curator in 1972, and then curator in 1982. As he pursued his museum career, de Looper painted and experimented with different styles and techniques. Influenced by the Color Field artists and the Abstract Expressionists, de Looper pursued his art until his death in 2009.