Lee Krasner- Night Creatures
My own image of my work is that I no sooner settle into something than a break occurs. These breaks are always painful and depressing but despite them I see that there’s a consistency that holds out, but is hard to define.
—Lee Krasner
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I’ve been in a funk with my work lately, one that makes it hard to even want to pick up the brushes. It reminds me of the one I felt at this exact time ten years back. My Archaeology series emerged from the depths of that funk so even though there is general sense of blah, I am optimistic.
Part of my process in clawing out of a funk is looking at work– my own and others– and reading on the experiences of others. I came across the quote above from the late artist Lee Krasner (1908-1984) and it spoke to how I have been feeling as of late. I spent a little time looking at her work and chose several that sparked my interest immediately.
Now, I am not well schooled on Abstract Expressionism so I am able to speak with any authority on her work or on her place in art history. But I do like these and a number more by her, finding something in them that inspires me with their rhythm, forms and composition. Born into a Jewish family in what is now the Ukraine, many scholars find elements of Hebrew script in the forms of some of her works.
Most of you, if you know her name at all, recognize her as the wife of Jackson Pollock. It’s unfortunate that she is mainly known in this way because her own work has had an enduring power that has been sometimes overshadowed by Pollock’s notoriety. She is an interesting figure in modern art. Take a look sometime. Here is short video with much of her work.
Lee Krasner- Untitled (Little Image)
Lee Krasner- Noon
Lee Krasner- Composition 1949
Lee Krasner- Promenade
Three of those examples of her art look so much like African block print textiles, I wondered if she’d been influenced by them. It seems that Mondrian may have been the influence; I didn’t explore much further than that. However, in reading about her, I found this, which was quite interesting:
“Krasner’s incredibly high standards led her to cut up her older canvases that she found lacking. She recycled and reconfigured these scraps and pieces as collages, a practice that suggests that she was inspired by the work of Henri Matisse, whose work also inspired her colorful, decorative, large paintings of the 1960s. Because she reused her earlier canvases in this way, only a small body of Krasner’s early work remains.”
Yes, I saw a couple of pieces that looked like they were assembled from cut up paintings. Interesting.
Great post! I like Lee Krasner’s work. I hope you find some inspiration of your own soon 🙂