ArchmerePainting: Introducing Lee Krasner by Chichi

Lee Krasner

Born: October 27, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York, NY

Died: June 19, 1984, in New York, NY

"If you can’t get out of school and get off the campus and experience life in the world of reality, that’s pretty depressing. There’s a lot of what I call campus art around now. And I think campus art is fine while you’re in school. But that’s your early stages of learning. If you’re a pianist, you have to learn your keyboard.. but then you’ve got to get on with it."

– Lee Krasner

She was a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism and a key crusader for Jackson Pollock's legacy. She was an expressionist because of her abstract, gestural, and expressive works in painting, collage painting, charcoal drawing, and occasionally mosaics. Her work over 50 years suggests perpetual, restless reinvention, encompassing portraits, Cubist drawings, collage, assemblage, and large-scale abstract painting.

Mysteries, 1972

medium: oil on cotton duck

Burning Candles, 1955

medium: oil, paper, and canvas on linen

Untitled, 1962

medium: watercolor and oil on stick paper

Fun Fact: She was married to Jackson Pollock, who was a very famous American painter for his splash paintings as seen below. He was also a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement.