Transcendental Materialism: Lee Krasner

Medium as material and material as weight. A weight that is the collective thrust of the intellect deciphered and abstracted in paint. Lee Krasner is one of the few women ever given the prestige of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Her large canvases travelled through intensive color and line shifts; centered by her abstracted highly forceful strokes, truly a legend in line quality. An entire emotive state can be found in the weight of her brush strokes. 

Krasner was infamous for her highly critical nature and she often cut up her own work to construct new works or destroyed works in a dissatisfied huff. Leaving her oeuvre at six hundred pieces, making her accomplishment even more extreme. 

The longtime partner of Jackson Pollock, she was often overshadowed and compared to his own abstracted art, but their own visual languages are easily distinguishable and of significant difference. We feel a strengthened lull in her heavy washes and command of her canvas. The partner of an equal master but singularly her own.

Images courtesy of Lee Krasner
Words by Brit Parks

2 comments

  • Dear S Chin,

    I apologize for not previously seeing your comment. I am in fact an accredited writer and pride myself on research and accuracy. The MoMA has had 2353 exhibitions in its history. Of those approximately 40 are female exhibits, most of which are small and or fall under the term project. Here is a link to their complete exhibition history ( https://www.moma.org/research-and-learning/research-resources/archives/archives_exhibition_history_list) Some of the more significant exhibits have been given to Yoko Ono, Barbara Hepworth, Cindy Sherman and Georgia O’Keefe. In my research, I found that Lee Krasner is in fact one of the only ones credited with a ‘retrospective’. It is a long established point of contention that woman are underrepresented in art. As for grammar, I would be happy to explain my stylistic logic and why I feel it is appropriate to the subject matter. As far a crediting the artist work, you are correct that I should have identified each work specifically with dates and names. I am thrilled you have an interest in women’s art and I of course look forward to more true retrospectives of their deserving work at all art institutions in the future. I am always happy to discuss any of these issues further, my email is britparks@gmail.com. Thank you for reading!

    Brit Parks

  • Britt – Do some research – many, many women – scores of them – have had solo shows at MoMA. I wouldn’t let my high school junior write with such little regard to grammar and art history. Also, you don’t credit images to a dead artist this way… so amateur it’s painful to read!

    S chin

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