Lee Krasner

(1908-1984)

Lee Krasner was a Jewish American painter.

Born on October 28, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York, Krasner studied at the Washington Irving High School in Manhattan, the Women’s Art School of Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design.

In 1937, she began studying with the German Expressionist Hans Hofmann, while still working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Hofmann exposed Krasner to many European abstract painters, which helped to direct her work into geometric abstract art. Over time Krasner became considered one of America’s most influential abstract expressionists. In 1940, she began showing her work with the American Abstract Artists, including Jackson Pollock (who she would marry in 1945). She presented her first show, in 1965, at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

Krasner died on June 19, 1984, at the age of 75. Her first New York exhibit was in December 1984, six months after her death, at the Museum of Modern Art.

Sources: “Lee Krasner (1908 - 1984).” American Jewish Historical Society, American Jewish Desk Reference, (NY: Random House, 1999) pg. 317, Wikipedia