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Nathan Freni

English 12

Mr. Gallagher

7 April 2010

Lee Krasner

Lee Krasner was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 27th, 1908. She was the

sixth child of seven born as an American citizen (Seckler 1). When she was a little girl

she knew right away that she wanted to be a painter. “All I can remember is that on

graduation from elementary school you had to designate what you chose to do in order to

select the right school. The only school that majored in art was Washington Irving

School” (Seckler 1). At the age of 13, after the second attempt to get in, she was

admitted into Washington Irving High School (Heyman 1). This was the only school at

the time that offered professional art training to children. After graduating from

Washington Irving, she attended the Women's Art School of Cooper Union and then, in

her early 20s, at the National Academy of Design. Both of which were located in New

York. While attending these institutes, Krasner developed her own style of geometric

abstraction, which she grounded in floral motifs and rhythmic gesture (Hobbs 44).

Krasner’s Hieroglyphics also suggest that they have a language of their own (Hobbs 44).

In 1940 she began exhibiting her work with many other American abstract artists. Once

this happened, her apprenticeship period of her career ended. She joined the American

Abstract Artists (Hobbs 27). Her personality and forceful painting brought her to the

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centre of the New York art world. In 1942, Krasner met the painter, Jackson Pollock.

Both of their paintings were being exhibited in a gallery together. They became friends

and actually got married in 1945. After this time, Krasner started to produce her little

image paintings from 1946 to 1949, characterized by her critics as her famous,

hieroglyphics (Biographical Essay 1). Both artists influenced one another to some extent.

Krasner began a series of painted and collaged works. The pieces were cannablilized cut

up and appropriated into Krasner’s canvases—from rejected Pollock paintings (Gibson

1). After Pollock’s death in 1956, she made paintings to show her tremendous grief over

her husband’s death. The 1970’s marked new work in collage and partial return to the

more gesture handling of her earlier career (Biographical Essay 1). Her work is included

in the collections of the world's major museums, and a major touring retrospective ended

January 2001 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Sadly Krasner passed away on June 19th,

1984 in New York (Doc. 1 Lee Krasner 1), right where she started her illustrious life.

The painting described as a self portrait of Lee Krasner herself is very vivid with

the colors that she used. The way she used the dark moss green for the pot and then used

a lighter green for the leaves really stands out. Visible is the detail in all of the leaves. All

the edges and curves are drawn so well they look like actual leaves on paper. She uses

very vivid detail and color to show herself as a young woman. If looked at closely people

can see the darker spots of skin tone on her nose and on her left side of her face. Her hair

looks real as if though I can grab it from out of the picture. One thing that really stands

out when you first look at the picture is the flower on the girls dress. It looks like a pink

rose and may be a symbol for beauty. The two leafs on the side of the flower, I think,

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indicate that it is a rose and maybe that she and someone else are a pair. Something that I

don’t get about the picture is why the flower pot, is on top of a bucket, which is on top of

a table. I don’t understand what the bucket is for? Is it to block the sun from coming in

onto the table? Or is it just blocking off the window completely so you cannot see out of

it? The colors of the wall are darkish gray. This could mean she is in a garage, green

house, or basement maybe. It could be summer time seeing as it is sunny outside of the

window and the picket fence is barely visible, but looks dry. The weather looks fantastic;

a lot better then the weather around here right now. The wall looks like she used sponge

painting to draw it. It does make the wall look more gloomy and dark like a basement so

that is probably what she was going for. Something I like about this Krasner painting is

there is barely any bright color. The only color that really stands out is the pink on the

flower. Everything else is a dark color or shade of some sort. This self portrait of Lee

Krasner actually looks similar to her in real life if you put pictures right next to each

other. This picture could be of when she was painting a flower pot and then just decided

to paint herself after she had drawn the pot. The bucket is still a mystery to me. If there is

already a table there, why not just put the flowers on the table. She could use the bucket

as a seat for when she draws the painting of the flower pot.

The next painting I want to describe is Krasner’s “Shellflower” painting. This

painting is very different in every aspect of art from her self portrait. One being it is not a

self portrait but also she uses bright colors all around the picture, that’s all the picture

consists of. This painting looks like tiny triangles all jumbled up in 1. You can see that

the painting is overly blue but the reds and yellows are clear and visible. The texture of

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this painting looks like you can grab it. It looks rough edged and looks just thrown

together, but we all know Krasner takes time and cares about the work she produces. It

may be just me but I think I see a “V” outlined in the painting. Maybe this is

symbolization for something. It could symbolize anything, but only Krasner knows the

real truth. Although she uses very bright and rainbow like colors, it also looks like you

can see some browns and blacks in the mix as well. It looks like she is using those darker

colors to make the brighter colors stand out even more than they already do. The blue is

the most powerful color in this painting. When I think of what this could mean, I look at

the title and see “shell”. Shells are not usually blue but they are in the ocean. I think that

all the blue is suppose to be the surrounding ocean and water. While all the other colors

like the reds, yellows, and oranges are flowers and shells from the sea. The lighter spots

of the painting have white in it. They look like the colors are more spaced out in those

sections than in the darker sections.

In the outline of the “V”, where it is the dark outline, it looks like the colors are

jumbled on top of each other and they can’t breathe. I think that this painting is a square.

This painting looks like all the gum in the world is put together and jumbled up in a big

box. This can relate to all the different people in the world. The color represents all the

different ethnicities in the world and how we live in the same communities with each

other and are friends with one another. I think the true story to this picture is to not be

mean to someone if they are different then you. Even if they are a different color they are

still one of you, and you can come together and be friends, brothers, neighbors,

colleagues, etc. Also, this painting looks like the cereal I eat in the morning. I love fruity

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pebbles and once I saw this and thought about it, I was like “FRUITY PEBBLES!!” I

love them and when I thought of it I got the fruity taste in my mouth. This cereal makes

my day, like actually puts a smile on my face especially when I drink them with orange

juice. I think I might print this picture out and put it on the table tomorrow morning, as I

eat my fruity pebbles, just before school. “Mostly these small paintings are impressive for

their unique vision and vitality, works that were distinctly Krasner’s own in both

substance and iconography. Not shown in public during those years, no doubt in part due

to the prevailing art world machismo, the "Little Image" paintings were admired by

fellow artists and critics when they visited Krasner and Pollock in the springs.” (Edelman

1).

Krasner’s “Little Image” paintings were well known because of the originality she

put into them. A lot of her ideas came from Pollock’s rejected works. (Heyman 3)

Another “Little Image” painting was Stop and Go. This painting looks like a very strong

painting. The way that it is on a round canvas makes you feel like it is a big traffic light

but is it green or red? That’s why I like the title of this painting because what is the

painting really telling you. Is it saying slow down and stop or is it saying speed up and

keep going. It’s also always possible for it to be a yellow light. Another thing I like about

this painting is that she made it a Mosaic. A mosaic is a piece of art created from little

tiles or pieces of stones etc. It is usually used to put something big together. You take the

tiles and put them on a canvas and they are all jumbled up and do not look like anything

until you get further away. That us the hidden trick to mosaics; they make a painting but

from up close it looks like random tiles or stones. Krasner loved the idea of abstract art.

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That is pretty much what her career was about, was making abstract art with her husband

Jackson Pollock.

Krasner has many paintings in museums and art galleries because of her

individuality of her paintings. No one else really paints like her and that’s good when

someone can be their own person and not follow along everyone else and how they paint.

She uses her ideas to make things come to life. A painting that shows this is her “Igor”

painting. When first looked at her paintings seem to look like jumbled up blobs of paint.

But when looked at closely, it shows something. The painting Igor is a nice, smooth

looking painting, the way it is painted is unique. The painting is of a bird or turkey. Once

turned upside down you see the bird. The mouth, the eye, the neck etc. this is a great way

of showing something but not really showing it fully. Krasner liked doing tricky things in

her paintings like this trick. If looked at right side up it just looks like random curves and

such on an oil canvas. But then turned upside down visible, actually, is the bird. The

weird thing about this painting is that none of the parts are connected, except for the eye

on the head. The mouth is not touching any other part of the painting other than the

background. The neck is all by its lonesome at the right side of the picture. This is a great

way to show how much of an individual Lee was. Igor may have meant something to her;

she could’ve had a pet bird that she wanted to commemorate with this picture. All it

looks like is a bird on a canvas, nothing else. The colors in this painting are simple. Blue,

a lot of blue with some black green yellow and red. She probably mixed colors together

to get some of the darker colors for the painting but all in all the painting came out good.

This could be a message Krasner was trying to send like don’t look at something for a

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minute and give up on it. Look at it in many ways and see what is really underneath all

that abstractness and all that paint.

Igor is one of Krasner’s more likeable paintings because many of her other works

seem to be just colors all jumbled up in a tiny space. Not like this one at all. This one

actually shows a picture of something and represents something. Of course all her other

works represent something to her it’s just that this painting is a lot easier to see what she

is painting than a painting of her’s like shellflower. The way she always paints abstractly

can be a nuisance at times but it is the way she wanted to do her work, and it is her work

so by all means she can do as she pleases.

A Painting that Krasner made right after Pollock’s death was titled “Birth”.

(Hobbs 66) This painting was tribute to her husband after his death. The meaning behind

this was with all death comes new life so as Pollock died, he would be birthed again.

Krasner uses colors in this painting, but one more than the others. This color looks like a

skin tone color and it makes sense as to why she would do this. In the painting, there are

many hints as to eyes and heads, arms, and legs. This shows birthing and how it is a

difficult process. Looked at closely, this painting seems like nothing, just like most of her

other works. It is very hard for people to understand a painter like Krasner because many

people don’t study her works. They look at it for 5 seconds, see nothing, and go to the

next painting. But given some time, this painting shows how good Krasner was at what

she did. The way she used titles to represent what she was drawing was amazing.

Looking at the title gives a big help as to what it is she is painting. It can be vague and

confusing but she represents it greatly whit the colors that she uses in her painting.

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The last painting of Lee to describe is her “Imperative” painting. This painting is

very weird but it may have many different meanings to certain people. This painting

looks like mirror images. The top half and bottom half are divided by a line. The bottom

half has more color than the top half so it could be describing the first half of her life was

bright and sunny as in her life was good. The second half of the painting only has color in

the beginning because it could represent how the second half of her life was darker and

more melancholy than the first half of her life. The reason why was probably because in

the second half of her life was when Jackson Pollock past away. After that happening she

started to paint some darker more abstract pictures, like “imperative”. This painting is

very dark. It seems like she was trying to write words but she just could not form them on

the canvas. When looked at closely, people may see the faces in the background. Not

really faces but noses and mouths etc. She uses these types of creations to make a

statement in her paintings and drawings. Most of her paintings are all abstract like this

one. Krasner just does her own thing and that is what sets her apart from all other artists

of her time. She was one of the only women to work how she did and it’s cool if you

think of it like that. A lot of Krasner’s paintings are with crazy shapes. The reason why is

unclear but it could be because she was such a different person/painter from everyone

else she just wanted to be original like her husband that past away was. Meeting Jackson

Pollock was a good thing for Krasner because she learned a lot from him. Although he

was very sad and grumpy he knew art and how to make it. Once they were married he

shared that with her and that’s why she became such a great artist. Sometimes you need

someone to kick start your career and Pollock did just that for his wife.

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Krasner had her own style. It was the “Krasner” style of painting. She did things

her way and no one told her otherwise. She was one of the great painters of her time and

although not everyone agreed with her art, true artists knew that what she made with her

creations were amazing pieces of art. Krasner still has paintings everywhere in art

galleries and museums. A lot in New York but other places as well. Krasner was just

simply one of the greatest women painters of all time if, and if people were asked that

knew her art, they would probably say the exact same thing.

Shellflower

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Self Portrait

Igor

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Imperative

Birth = Pg. 65 in book “Krasner” by Robert Hobbs

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Works Cited

"Art and Life of Lee Krasner." American Decades Primary Sources . Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 6: 1950-1959. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 22-26. Gale Virtual Reference Library . Web. 24 Mar. 2010. <http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3490201046&v=2.1&u=&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w >.

The schools that Lee attended during adolescence and adulthood. About where she lived and her parents and her relationship.

Gibson, Ann. "Lee Krasner and women's innovations in American abstract painting." Woman's Art Journal 28.2 (2007). < http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC

Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T007&prodId=EAIM&docId=A214892230&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=mlin_b_bpublic&version=1.0>.

Talks about the ideas she had in abstract painting and how she changed her painting philosophy at some points.

.

Hobbs, Robert. Lee Krasner. New York: Abbeville Press Publications, 1993

The book tells us about Lee and how she went through all kinds of different stages of painting and other things during her lifetime.

Holmes, Pernilla “In Your Face.” ARTnews June 2007: 106-110

The art Lee has produced was talked about in this citation. Also talks about her life and how it relates to her paintings.

Landi, Ann. “Lee Krasner.” ART news Nov. 2007: 218. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. http:// find.galegroup.com.exproxy.bpl.org/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T007&prodId=EAIM&docId=A171675821&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=mlin_b_bpublic&version=1.0

Her art and how people judge it. The way she uses abstract art to communicate with others and herself.

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“Lee Krasner.” Encyclopedia of World Biograhpy, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.Http://galenet.galegroup.com.exproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC

 Krasner talking about her love of painting and why she wanted to be a painter when growing up in New York   

     

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Works Consulted

"Lee Krasner." Encyclopedia of World Biography . 2nd ed. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 93-94. Gale Virtual Reference Library . Web. 24 Mar. 2010. <http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3404703624&v=2.1&u=&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.

Talks about Lee Krasner’s paintings. Also tells us about her mentors and her late husband Jackson Pollock.

Oral history interview with Lee Krasner, 1964 Nov. 2-1968 Apr. 11, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.  Interview with Lee Krasner about her paintings, life, and her journey to where she is now.

“Lee Krasner.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.Http://galenet.galegroup.com.exproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC

Lee Krasner, the people she met and how they influenced her paintings.

Also, the bonds she made with other painters

“Lee Krasner.” Contemporary Women Artists. St. James Press, 1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale,2010. Http://galenet.galegroup.com.exproxy.bpl.org/servlet/BioRC

Talks about the women who changed art. Krasner has painted so many different ways and she changed to abstract when working with Jackson Pollock.