Where to See Lee Krasner

Lee Krasner's art can be viewed in several public collections. Many are in the United States, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Her work is also held at the Whitney Museum of American Art^[3], also in New York. Other US locations include the National Gallery of Art^[4] and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (part of the Smithsonian Institution) in Washington, DC, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Outside the US, Krasner's work can be seen at the Tate Gallery in London, the Musee National d'Art Moderne (Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou) in Paris, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. These museums hold paintings, drawings, and other works that span Krasner's career. Availability of specific pieces on display may vary, so checking museum websites is advisable.

Lee Krasner's works can be seen at National Gallery of Art^[4], Prints in the National Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and 2 other museums worldwide.

Lee Krasner, born Lena Krassner (1908-1984), produced a limited number of prints, particularly later in her career. Although she is better known for her paintings, her explorations in printmaking offer insight into her artistic practice. Krasner engaged with printmaking at various points, often collaborating with workshops and printers. These collaborations allowed her to translate her abstract expressionist style into media such as lithography and screen printing. "Shattered Colour" (1976) is a screen print that demonstrates her use of bold forms and dynamic composition. Her prints often echo themes and motifs found in her paintings, including biomorphic shapes and energetic lines. Krasner used printmaking to revisit and reinterpret earlier ideas, sometimes creating variations on existing compositions. The prints are not mere reproductions; they are original works that explore the possibilities of the medium. Collectors value her prints for their connection to her larger body of work and their unique qualities as limited edition pieces.

Lee Krasner's art is important because she was a significant Abstract Expressionist painter in her own right, whose career was often overshadowed by her marriage to Jackson Pollock. Krasner was keenly aware of sexism in the art world; she noted that female artists were often regarded merely as "dames". Krasner played a multifaceted role in Pollock's rise to prominence, even introducing him to the Greenwich Village art scene. Their relationship was more symbiotic than previously thought, with Pollock sometimes learning from Krasner. Her work resists easy categorisation, displaying a love for gestural painting and a European sensibility. Krasner was a virtuoso of colour and line, working across media such as collage and mosaic. She shortened her name to the more androgynous "Lee" and signed works "L.K." to avoid gender bias. Since 2017, there has been renewed commercial gallery activity, with exhibitions of her collaged works from 1955 and her monochromatic Umber paintings from 1959 to 1962. These shows, alongside museum exhibitions, reflect a growing appreciation of her artistic achievements, independent of her relationship with Pollock.

Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock became a couple during the 1940s.

Lee Krasner (born Lenore Krassner in Brooklyn, New York, 1908) experimented with a range of media and approaches throughout her career. She studied at the Women's Art School of Cooper Union, the Art Students League, and the National Academy of Design. She also studied with Hans Hofmann from 1937 to 1940. Krasner engaged with Cubism early in her career; Hofmann taught his students an academic version of the style, using observed forms toward abstracted surfaces. Later, she absorbed the 'action' moment of Surrealism that emerged in New York in the 1940s. Krasner worked in media including oil paint and collage. From 1953 to 1955, she explored collage. In 1959, she completed two mosaic murals for the Uris building at 2 Broadway in New York. In 1976, she made 'Past Continuous', a collage on canvas composed of three panels.

Lee Krasner's influence is complex. Some argue that her artistic education in modernist developments ran deeper and more widely than that of Jackson Pollock, her husband. Krasner studied with Hans Hofmann, learning an academic Cubism that discerned deep structure within observed forms. She also explored the Surrealist "action" movement in New York during the 1940s. Like Helen Frankenthaler, Krasner recognised a potential in Pollock’s practice. Her work constantly expanded in scope, remaining faithful to innovations of shifting modernist art modes. Krasner moved abstract painting in new directions, examining painting itself. Krasner refused a signature style, unlike some of her contemporaries, such as Barnet Newman, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Clyfford Still, and Jackson Pollock. She reinvented and experimented throughout her career. Krasner absorbed what had happened in Europe since 1907, producing abstracted surfaces and inner compositional tension.

Lee Krasner's artistic development involved exposure to several artists and movements. Early on, she received classical art training at the National Academy of Design and studied at the Art Students League of New York. Later, Krasner studied with Hans Hofmann, who broadened her knowledge of modern art. Hofmann introduced her to the work of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, assisting her in modernising her artistic approach. She also became familiar with the work of Arshile Gorky and Piet Mondrian, studying their use of line, and Wassily Kandinsky's handling of colour. Krasner's work also shows the impact of Thomas Hart Benton and Picasso's Guernica. Her relationship with Jackson Pollock also influenced her work; however, Krasner had already studied Cubism with Hofmann and the non-formal elements of abstract art with Graham, giving her a wider artistic education than Pollock.