No Mere Woman’s Work

Barbican retrospective proves Lee Krasner is equal of greatest Abstract Expressionists

LONDON — The Abstract Expressionist movement has been described as the first uniquely American art movement. The Abstract Expressionists’ work is visceral, aggressive, spontaneous, dynamic — traits that seem to typify the masculine, a trait that has been ascribed to the movement’s leading figures, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and arguably its most high-profile exponent, Jackson Pollock.

But this blanket perception unfairly dismisses the contributions of the women whose work is a vital part of the movement — Joan Mitchell, Elaine de Kooning and Lee Krasner. That both Elaine de Kooning and Krasner were married to leading Abstract Expressionists — de Kooning to Willem and Krasner to Pollock — has only served to diminish critical perception of their value to 20th-century art.

However, the spotlight is beginning to be shined on these women. The Barbican Centre is hosting “Lee Krasner: Living Colour,” a major retrospective of Krasner’s work that not only installs her at the forefront of the movement, but also establishes her as one of the movement’s most accomplished and influential practitioners. In fact, one could argue that her innovative career surpasses that of her celebrity husband.

The exhibition begins with a film that features Krasner talking about her life and is a must-see before entering the exhibition as it sets the artworks in context direct from the artist’s mouth.

Lena Krassner was born in 1908 to Russian-Jewish immigrants and changed her name to Lenore and finally the gender-free Lee, dropping an S from her last name. During the Depression, Krasner studied life drawing under Job Goodman before studying with Hans Hofmann, the German Bauhaus artist-teacher who introduced her to Cubism. The work from this early period is represented in the show, including the muscular life drawings and the loose Cubistic drawings. Hofmann’s teaching style often involved drawing over students’ works or ripping them up and reconfiguring them, something that Krasner would adopt throughout her career.

In 1953, after an unsuccessful show at the Betty Parsons Gallery, she tore up all the works in her studio and reassembled them as collages. The recycled images, such as “Burning Candles” and “Desert Moon,” are layered and graphically exciting. In the 1970s, Krasner rediscovered her drawings from her Hofmann period and cut them up, creating vibrant, exciting abstractions, adding color to elements.

She was a member of the Abstract American Artists group, where she met Willem de Kooning, Kline and, ultimately, Pollock. She also created art for the Depression-era Public Works of Art Project and the Works Progress Administration, which was non-discriminatory against women artists. Throughout her early career she was an activist for artists rights, a position she continued her whole life.

The couple, who married in 1945, moved to a house in Springs, Long Island, where Pollock developed his large-scale drip paintings, while Krasner worked on her “Little Image” paintings. Works such as 1949’s “Composition” are filled with hieroglyph-like symbols that invite the viewer to decipher hidden messages.

In the mid-1950s, with Pollock’s self-destructive alcoholism putting a strain on the marriage, Krasner painted “Prophecy.” She was disturbed by the image, although Pollock encouraged her. Krasner left it on her easel when she left for a trip to France. While she was gone, on Aug. 12, Pollock died in a car crash that also killed Edith Metzger, a friend of Pollock’s lover Ruth Kligman, who survived the accident. Following the funeral, Krasner continued the series she had begun with “Prophecy,” adding “Birth,” “Embrace” and “Three in Two.” The four paintings comprise a stunning series of work. The exhibition catalogue quotes Krasner, in response to a question about how she could paint in the midst of such profound grief, responding, “Painting is not separate from life. It is one. It is like asking — do I want to live? My answer is yes — and I paint.”

The Barbican is an excellent venue for an art show. The upstairs galleries offer a perfect setting for Krasner’s early works, but it is in the large open spaces of the downstairs galleries that one is really immersed in Krasner’s stunning abstracts.

“Another Storm,” from 1962, is a stunningly visceral swirl of red and white paint daubs. The viewer is overwhelmed by the vibrant image. Similarly, 1960’s “Polar Stampede” is full of violent fury. Both images appropriate the “masculine” aggressiveness of the Abstract Expressionists, at the same time destroying the myth that the movement was necessarily male-centric.

Krasner’s career latest longer than her husband and as a result, it is fair to argue, her work was more developed and nuanced. Her abstracts were as vibrant but more thoughtful. She constantly experimented and shifted her focus, continually surprising the viewer with new concepts. Her work from the mid- to late-1960s, such as “Courtship” from 1966, is fluid and entrancing and shows her mastery of form.

Then, just as suddenly, Krasner pivots from the fluid and organic to return to her Cubistic roots. In 1974, she rediscovered her drawings from her studies with Hofmann. Krasner noticed that several had ghostly images on the back as she had not used a fixative. She set those aside to be framed and took the rest to her studio where she planned to destroy them. However, in 1975, Krasner decided to create a new series of collages. Rather than tear the works, as she had in her earlier collages, she used scissors. The resulting works, including “Imperative” from 1976, are aggressively sharp images that almost assault he viewer, while at the same time both fascinating and inviting us to delve into the work.

“Lee Krasner: Living Color” is an exciting exhibition on several levels. It is exciting to see an exhibition that showcases vibrant work that is still fresh and innovative. It is also exciting to see an underrated artist finally get her due as one of the leading artistic visionaries of the 20th century.­­­

Story by Andy Coughlan, ISSUE editor

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