5 Things Artist Lee Krasner Had To Overcome
Lee Krasner, 1938 photographer unknown
Lee Krasner was an American abstract expressionist painter who was able to connect early 20th century art with the new ideas of postwar America. She was also married to painter Jackson Pollack. Besides being constantly referred to as Mrs. Jackson Pollack, there were more professional and social obstacles the female artist had to fight through.
BEING MRS. JACKSON POLLACK
You could say that Lee had no problem being her artist husband’s ride or die partner from the early start of his career and even after his death. Although their marriage was a tumultuous one, she was his avid and loyal supporter through and though, even to the point of it interfering with her own collections of work.
Credit: Jackson Pollock and Lee Kranser in Pollock’s studio (1950). Photo: Lawrence Larkin for the New York. Courtesy American Contemporary Art Gallery, Munich.
BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY AS A WOMAN PAINTER
During World War II Krasner was already an established artist having worked on commissioned projects of the Works Progress Administration. Her role was to commission other artists to create large scale public works in support of the war efforts. One of those artists was Jackson Pollack. In an Artnet article, Krasner was quoted “I was considered a ‘dame’ even if I was a painter too,” Krasner recalled.
BEING UNDER FBI INVESTIGATION
During peak Cold War, the FBI held an investigation on Krasner on the suspicion of her not being an American, thus suspecting her of being a spy.
Credit: Lee Krasner copyright A.E. Artworks, LLC
LEGAL TROUBLES WITH PEGGY GUGGENHEIM
It all began in 1945 when Jackson Pollock cut a deal with socialite art collector Peggy Guggenheim for his works in exchange for a $2,000 loan that would go towards a farmhouse in East Hampton, New York. Thanks to Krasner’s promotion of Pollack’s works, his painting and fame began to rise, at which Guggenheim then took them to court. A long legal battle it was, but Krasner prevailed in the outcome.
Credit: Lee Krasner, Desert Moon, 1955. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation. © 2018. Digital Image Museum Associates / LACMA / Art Resource NY / Scala, Florence.
NO STUDIO OF ONE’S OWN
While her husband Jackson took up space in the barn, Lee worked on her paintings in a small upstairs bedroom. Mind you this was before air-conditioning, so those sweltering east coast heatwaves were no joke. It wasn’t until 1957 after Jackson’s tragic car crash that lead to his death, that Lee moved into the barn studio to work.
Credit: Getty Images
*Originally published in 2019, updated December 12th, 2022
MARC JACOBS
