Lee Krasner

Modern Masters Series #15

by Robert Carleton Hobbs

This work chronicles the life and work of Lee Krasner, one of the most inventive Abstract Expressionist painters. Lee Kranser occupies a special place in Abstract Expressionism as a major female painter in a group of artists known for their macho individuality. Aproaching art-making as a forum for communicating her discoveries about the self, nature and modern life, she turn the process of her painting into a debate with herself and other artists, ranging from Picasso and Matisse to her husband, Jackson Pollock. Often painting in a large scale, she created canvases overflowing with colour and intensely personal content. Fearless in her readiness to explore new styles, she created an extraordinary range of works, from her early Cubist-based abstractions to ambitious late canvases related to the postmodernism of the 1980s. The abrupt changes in her style, coupled with her feuds with powerful critics, delayed critical acceptance of Krasner's art.

Genres: Art, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1993

Reviews

[Aren Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally picked this book up from my university’s library to skim for quotes to use in a paper I was writing about Lee Krasner. Even though I didn’t plan on reading the whole thing, the bits I did read were so interesting that I decided to sit down and read the rest once I finished my paper. This book really covers about everything you’d want to know about her. I’d recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in abstract art or women artists.

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great study of Krasner's path and process as an artist. Krasner's paintings, changes in style, symbolism of form and color, emotional processes and expression of same, are discussed and analyzed in detail, so the reader comes away with insight into Krasner, and abstract expressionism. Biography itself focuses mainly on art, how life events play a part in her work.

[Ed Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 3 and a half stars, but you read art books often for the illustrations, and these are copious. The writing is somewhat cobbled together, and attempting to shoehorn Krasner into critical categories.

Lee Krasner, for the general reader who does not know this, was the wife of Jackson Pollock, as well as being an excellent abstract expressionist painter in her own right. That being said, will totally ignore that aspect, other than to note that examination of her work seems to indicate that influence went in both directions, Pollock's Easter and the Totem, a less typical work of his, seems to bear similarities to some of Krasner's earlier work. (I didn't really get that from the text, my own impression.)

Krasner had several interesting styles, and they are well illustrated and discussed: the "little image" paintings, which involved many many units, that are writing like and of modest scale, large bold abstract expressionist paintings, large paintings with extremely bold color combinations that fuse minimalism with abstract expressionism (some of these are among my favorites), and her collage/paintings.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Krasner was not only Jackson Pollock's wife, she was the better artist.