Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), sometimes called the American Picasso, was born in the Netherlands at the beginning of the last century.  He was to become one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century.  De Kooning came to America in 1926 working as a house and sign painter and later as a commercial artist.  He was one of the best academically trained artists, however, having studied at the Rotterdam Academy before coming to New York.  His first solo art exhibition was in 1948 and from then on he dominated the avant garde art world and became known as the founder of the Abstract Expressionist school of painting.  Abstract Expressionism was a post-World War II art movement that combined European modernism with traditional painting with an American perspective;  it was both abstract and expressive, hence the term Abstract Expressionism.

Willem de Kooning made his first print, an etching, in 1957 and his earliest lithographs date from 1960.  During the 1960s and 1970s, printmaking activity flourished, attracting artists who were primarily painters and sculptors.  Lithography is an excellent medium for modern artistic expression as a result of the variety of the materials that can be used and the versatility of the imagery that can be represented as the artist creates directly on the lithographic stone.  Lithography allowed de Kooning to create directly on the lithographic stone lending itself as a medium for modern artistic expression.  As Abstract Expressionist artists, painters focused on the gesture of the brush and texture of paint to create dynamic textural strokes or movement.  When working in the print medium ,artists would create the same expressive strokes, but with ink on a plate or stone to be printed on paper.  Thus, the action of the artists' hand was reflected in the lively lines and strokes seen in prints.  "Devil At the Keyboard", an important de Kooning work, is a prime example of abstracted figures and the affinity lithography lent to the Abstract Expressionists.