Lee Krasner: Color and Graceful, Rhythmic Form

Lee Krasner - Imperative - 1976 - Oil, charcoal and paper on canvas - 50 x 50 in. (127 x 127 cm) - National Gallery of Art - Washington, DC (click photo for larger image)American artist Lee Krasner (1908-1984) explored and experimented with both painting and collage techniques, for over six decades. 

“An ambitious and important artist in New York City during Abstract Expressionism's heyday, Lee Krasner's own career often was compromised by her role as supportive wife to Jackson Pollock, arguably the most significant postwar American painter, as well as by the male-dominated art world.” And yet, it has often been observed many times that, “without Lee Krasner, there would have been no “Jackson Pollock”. Pollock’s vision was certainly his own. But it was Krasner’s thorough understanding of art theory and current trends that set Pollock on his path, and it was Krasner who propelled his career and ensured his legacy.

In terms of her own work, Krasner always explored the synthesis of abstract form and psychological content that was at the heart of Abstract Expressionism. She was remarkably versatile and possessed stellar skills, which, when coupled with her intensive training and knowledge, enabled her to revise her style and technique multiple times over the course of her career.

Six months after her death, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City held a retrospective exhibition of her work. A review of the exhibition in the New York Times noted that it "clearly defines Krasner's place in the New York School" and that she "is a major, independent artist of the pioneer Abstract Expressionist generation, whose stirring work ranks high among that produced here in the last half-century.” Krasner is now seen as a key transitional figure within abstraction, who connected early-20th-century art with the new ideas of postwar America.