Lee Krasner

Lee Krasner was a famous American painter who lived in New York.

She was born in Brooklyn in 1908 to Jewish-Ukrainian immigrants. Her parents moved to the United States to escape war and unfair treatment. Lee loved making art from the time she was a teenager. She studied at the Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design. She even learned how to draw the human body very well.

One of her early paintings was a self-portrait from 1930. It is now kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many of her other early works were lost in a fire. This makes the pieces we still have very special to see.

Krasner learned many different ways to create art. In 1937, she studied with a teacher named Hans Hofmann. He taught her how to use color to create a sense of space. She also learned a style called Cubism. This style uses shapes to show different parts of a person or object.

She often made charcoal drawings of people. She also made colorful studies using oil paint on paper. She liked to use bright colors against white backgrounds. This helped her explore new ways to look at the world.

During the Great Depression, Krasner worked for the government to make art. She joined the Federal Art Project in 1935. Her job was to help make large murals for public buildings. She also made art to help people during the war years. These were called war propaganda artworks. She even made collages that were shown in many department stores.

This work helped her meet many other famous painters. She became part of a group called the American Abstract Artists in 1940. This group helped her connect with artists like Mark Rothko. These connections were very important for her career.

Krasner is known as an Abstract Expressionist. This means her art shows deep feelings through shapes and marks. She did not like to stick to just one style. Instead, she changed her work many times throughout her life. Sometimes her paintings had hard edges and bright colors. Other times, they were more flowing and textured.

She even made collage paintings by cutting up her own old drawings. This allowed her to turn old ideas into brand new art. Her work is full of rhythm and energy.

Lee Krasner's life was connected to the famous painter Jackson Pollock. They married in 1945, but their marriage had many hard times. After he died in 1956, she had to manage his art estate. She continued to grow as an artist in her later years. She received many honors, including a doctorate from Stony Brook University.

Today, people visit the Pollock-Krasner House in Springs, New York. There is also a foundation that helps new artists. Her art is still shown in big museums around the world. She is remembered as a very brave and talented artist.