Lee Krasner: Living Color
09.18.2020 - 01.10.2021
Lee Krasner (1908–1984) was born in Brooklyn as Lena Krassner and grew up in an Orthodox Jewish, Russian émigré family. She decided to become an artist at the age of 14, and was one of the first artists in New York to adopt an entirely abstract approach. She went on to be one of the pioneers of Abstract Expressionism. In 1942, her work was included in a group exhibition entitled French and American Painting, and the only fellow exhibitor that she had not met was Jackson Pollock, so she decided to visit his studio. From then on, they were together and in 1945 they married and moved to Springs, Long Island.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Krasner refused to develop a “signature image,” which she considered to be “rigid rather than being alive.” Working in cycles, she continually sought out new means for authentic expression, even during the most tumultuous of times, which included Pollock's emotional volatility and his sudden death in a car crash in 1956. Krasner's formidable spirit is felt throughout the body of work that she created over more than fifty years in the studio—celebrated in this exhibition.
Exhibition organized by Barbican Centre, London in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. With the support of the Terra Foundation for American Art
Curators: Eleanor Nairne and Lucía Agirre
Lee Krasner
Combat, 1965
Oil on canvas
179 × 410.4 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Felton Bequest, 1992 (IC1-1992)
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
The Exhibition
Lee Krasner
Self-Portrait, ca. 1928
Oil on canvas
76.5 x 63.8 cm
The Jewish Museum, New York. Purchase: Esther Leah Ritz Bequest; B. Gerald Cantor, Lady Kathleen Epstein, and Louis E. & Rosalyn M. Schecter. Gifts by exchange; Fine Arts Acquisitions Committee Fund; & Miriam Handler Fund, 2008–32
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Courtesy Jewish Museum, New York
Lee Krasner
Study from the Nude, 1933
Conté crayon on paper
51.4 x 37.7 cm
Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York
Image courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Lee Krasner
Shattered Color, 1947
Oil on canvas
53.3 × 66 cm
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Lee Krasner
Photograph of Design for War Service Window Display (original collage lost), 1942
Photomontage and collage
Dimensions unknown
Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Wahsington D.C.
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Lee Krasner
Bald Eagle, 1955
Oil, paper, and canvas collage on linen
195.6 x 130.8 cm
Collection of Audrey Irmas, Los Angeles
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Photo: Jonathan Urban
Lee Krasner
Prophecy, 1956
Oil on cotton duck
147.6 × 86.4 cm
Private collection
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York
Photo: Christopher Stach
Lee Krasner
Polar Stampede, 1960
Oil on canvas
243.8 x 412.4 cm
The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York
Lee Krasner
Sirena (Siren), 1966
Oil on canvas
128,6 x 206,1 cm
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC,
The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981, 86.2768
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Photo: Cathy Carver, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Lee Krasner
Seed No.21, 1969
Gouache on Howell paper
38.1 x 48.9 cm
Private collection
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Lee Krasner
Palingenesis, 1971
Oil on canvas
208.3 × 340.4 cm
Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York
Lee Krasner
Imperative, 1976
Oil, charcoal, and paper on canvas
127 x 127 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. gift of Mr and Mrs Eugene Victor Thaw, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Artist
Krasner, Lee
Brooklyn, New York, 1908 | New York, 1984
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