Artist Profile: Lee Krasner
Most of the abstract expressionists between 1929 and 1959 were incredibly impoverished. Today we joke about being a “starving artist” but most artists of that time were struggling to feed and house themselves. They were sleeping and painting in unheated lofts and homes without running water. It wasn’t an easy life to choose but, for most, it wasn’t a choice because life was art and art was life. Eventually a few went on to make enough money to be comfortable. On top of money worries, many were in an existential crisis because of war and the economy. Still, even with the horrors of the day and the struggle to survive, most were fully engaged in intellectual discussion and debate with each other and this fueled their artistic drive and passion. One of these courageous artists was Lee Krasner.
Lee was born in 1908 in Brooklyn to two working class Jewish Russian immigrants. At the age of 14 she declared, with boldness and confidence, that she would become an artist. Her intellect, passion and talent apparent in those early years and throughout her life led her to be an important member of the abstract expressionist period. She was a gifted and praised artist even before she met and married Jackson Pollock.
Lee Krasner
Yes, Lee sacrificed much of her art career to help Pollock succeed and achieve recognition. But, she didn’t do this because it was her “duty”. She truly believed in Jackson’s gifts. The world needed his voice and vision. On a side note, people frequently tell me that they do not like Jackson Pollock’s work and they “don’t get it”. I think liking the paintings is personal but it is important that we recognize how truly unique and ground breaking his work was at the time. Lee saw this and absolutely wanted the world to see and appreciate his work. But, her work was ground breaking, too.
All the while Lee was promoting Jackson, she was also painting. During their time in Springs, the then sparsely populated and inexpensive(relatively) East Hampton, Lee developed her “Little Image” paintings with layers and layers of thick paint and various symbols. She painted these largely on a table, looking down.
Little Image
After Jackson Pollock’s death from a car accident in 1956, Lee accelerated her art practice, painting on large scale paintings with more gestural strokes and less thickly painted areas. She painted huge colorful paintings such as the “Earth Green” series (eg. Sun Woman I). The painting widely considered her masterpiece is the massive “The Seasons” which is filled with movement and light. She is also known for painting the Umber series, using less color. “The Eye is the First Circle” (1960) is her pinnacle painting of this series.
Sun Woman I
When asked how do you approach a painting, Lee said “You just take a deep breath and hope for the best. You just get into it and sometimes it comes through miraculously” also “don’t force it. Let it come forth on its’ own terms”
She had numerous solo exhibitions during her career, one of the most notable being in 1965 at The Whitechapel Gallery in London. This made her the first living woman to have a retrospective exhibition at a European major art institution. She was also the first woman to have a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in Houston in 1983. Sadly, Lee died that Spring before the opening.
In 1985, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established. The non-profit is aimed to provide aspiring artists with financial aid and support.
For further study of Lee Krasner and the abstract expressionism period, I recommend Mary Gabriel’s Ninth Street Women. Also, here are a few short videos about Lee Krasner I think are particularly worth watching:
Acknowledgements:
- Thank you to Ivy Grosk for assisting in the research and draft of this article.
- A major inspiration and source is from Mary Gabriel’s Ninth Street Women, a book I highly recommend.
