Lee Krasner1908-1984

Psychic Automatist

Painter

Much of this slide show adapted from http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/cas/pkhouse.nsf/pages/krasner

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Lena Krassner (who preferred to be called Lenore, later Lee, and who changed her last name to Krasner) was born on 27 October 1908 to an immigrant Russian-Jewish couple. Her early art training was at The Cooper Union, Art Students League, and the National Academy of Design in New York, where she studied from 1928-32. Her headstrong, independent character often set Krasner at odds with her instructors at the conservative academy, where she nevertheless received a thorough grounding in drawing, painting, and design.

During their early years together, Krasner struggled to "lose Cubism" and "absorb Pollock." Nevertheless, although she acknowledged Pollock's superior gifts, she did not become his follower. she never lost her deep admiration for Matisse, an artist who also interested Pollock only marginally, and for Mondrian,

Krasner on her own style

• In an interview with JB Myers, she recalled that she had been influenced by the Surrealist method of Psychic Automatism

• This is basically an improvisational method of working during which the artist encourages the hand and mind to wander so that aspects of the unconscious mind can be revealed

Psychic Automatism

• The first stage is a period of getting to know oneself and the media chosen

• At this point only random marks are encouraged– She explained: mostly I started (the little images) on a

raw canvas with my first markings and let it evolve…I kept working and reworking till I got what I felt I wanted to leave it at

– This period of working can be…both a battle and at times an instantaneous contact. It is a process of working with oneself as much as with the painting

Noon 1947 Oil on Linen

Blue and Black 1951-1953 Oil on Canvas

Blue and Black 1951-1953 Oil on Canvas

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Right Bird Left 1965

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