Book Offers A Rare Personal Insight Into The Life Of Lee Krasner

The life story of abstract artist Lee Krasner is one that stands on its own, far removed, in various ways, from the shadow so often cast by her tumult-ridden, though spectacularly creative husband of 14 years, Jackson Pollock.

In the just released “Lee Krasner: A Biography,” art historian and author Gail Levin writes of the arc of Krasner’s life—including her impoverished Brooklyn upbringing; the struggles she endured as she attempted to break into the New York School of artists in 1940s Manhattan; the many complex relationships wrought with criticism and praise by lovers, mentors and family; the years she spent deeply focused as an artist, more confident and steady in her abilities; and finally, the years she spent reflecting on her life.

During a recent email interview, Ms. Levin explained why she felt the impetus to write the 467-page biography of Ms. Krasner, replete with an extensive collection of intimate photographs.

“I was troubled by the way in which others had written about Lee Krasner. From Pollock biographers to feminist theorists, the results conflicted with what I knew to be the real Lee Krasner,” Ms. Levin said. “Some authors even put words of invented dialogue from a novel into Krasner’s mouth as if she had actually said them.”

Ms. Levin had a rather personal relationship with Ms. Krasner—they first met in 1971 when Ms. Levin was a graduate student at Rutgers University. She had completed a seminar on abstract expressionism that featured Mr. Pollock, which in turn spurred her interest in his “debt to art,” as well as the artistic ideas behind works by Wassily Kandinsky. As a result of her research, Ms. Levin said she decided then to pursue an interview with Ms. Krasner.

Years later, after having forged a friendship with Ms. Krasner, and ultimately being invited to live for a summer at the home which Ms. Krasner shared with Mr. Pollock in Springs, writing a factual account of Ms. Krasner became of paramount importance to Ms. Levin, she said.

Regarding previous works on the artist, she said, “[It] was damaging to Krasner’s reputation, misleading and inaccurate. I also noticed conflicting stories in different books. [It was] the same plot with different characters. They couldn’t all be true. I wanted to get back to primary sources ... I wanted to correct mistakes in Krasner’s chronology that caused some writers to make errors.”

As a result, Ms. Levin researched thoroughly and gathered what she reported was an “endless” amount of material.

“I tracked down descendants of various friends to get material nearly all lost to history,” she said.

The author described the experience of writing “Lee Krasner: A Biography” as “intense.”

“I was fortunate to have the help of a research assistant, Karen Cantor, then a graduate student at SUNY, for the first nine months. She was very helpful in amassing material, such as reviews and articles about some of the minor characters,” she said. “That way I got a fast start. I compiled a lot of research and went off to write in the Netherlands ... I was locked up in an office in a 13th century abbey in a small town, Monday through Friday, from 9 to 5 p.m.”

During her time in the Netherlands, Ms. Levin said she visited abstract expressionist exhibitions held in Europe; the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, located in her former home, the “

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni

” on the Grand Canal in Venice, and Ms. Krasner’s family shtetl in present-day Ukraine as part of her exhaustive research for the book.

“Later I went back to places that had been dead ends and found more material—magazines at her high school, the school’s library collection, etc. I had help from generous librarians and archivists ... They are uncelebrated and I thank them all,” she said.

Part of Ms. Levin’s research was also developed with a grant, courtesy of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs.

“The director, Helen Harrison, introduced me to collections there and made them available to me. She gave me some early leads on finding some of the people I interviewed and was always willing to help in any way she could,” she said.

As for the author’s focus on the life and loves of Ms. Krasner, Ms. Harrison, a foremost authority on Ms. Krasner and Mr. Pollock, said she is pleased with the result.

“I was delighted and thrilled to work with Gail,” Ms. Harrison said. “[Krasner] deserved a full-length treatment, not just a footnote.”

Indeed, the biography is broken up over 18 chapters and includes eight pages of notes. Chapters are relatively dense and cover segments of the artist’s life, including her youthful urge to break away from the traditions of her immigrant Jewish family in the mid-1920s, how she endured the Great Depression, and her move from cubism (a style Krasner highly favored in the beginning, especially as she was mentored by artist Hans Hofmann and frequently pulled inspiration from Pieter Cornelis “Piet” Mondrian) to her interpretation of abstraction and the resulting solace she found within it.

The book also offers readers an opportunity to see Ms. Krasner in a different light from the one so often cast upon her, which was unwaveringly unapproachable, hard-edged and fiercely guarded. In the first page of “Lee Krasner: A Biography,” the artist is explained by Patsy Southgate, Ms. Krasner’s friend and neighbor as “a brilliant verbatim storyteller and raconteuse—dramatic pauses, perfect people imitations.” Other friends referred to her as “a phenomenon” and “unique.”

In an excerpt from the biography, Ms. Krasner’s niece, Rena Glickman (also known as famed judo expert Rusty Kanokogi), offered her perception of her well-known aunt.

“They couldn’t keep her down. Lee was the first person who ever gave me credit for all I had come up through, all I had fought against ... She reinforced me. [She was] honest, forthright. She would tell it the way it was.” Ms. Glickman said.

Not only does Ms. Levin’s book offer summations of the artist by friends who might have been partial, it also offers matter-of-fact perspectives from critics as well. For example, as Ms. Levin reveals, art critic Clement Greenberg once admitted that “he feared Krasner because she was so brilliant and had such a strong character.”

Ms. Levin makes a strong effort to show readers who Krasner was first-hand. She noted that there was no clear line between the artist and person.

“The two were completely merged,” Ms. Levin said. “She was brilliant, witty, funny, incisive, intuitive but did not like pretense. That’s the woman I knew first-hand. She was generous with her time and her opinions.”

Though the urge to depict Ms. Krasner as an individual separate from Pollock was primary to the book’s core, Ms. Levin does not play down his role, often offering up insight into Ms. Krasner’s relationship with her husband and her dogged belief and support of his work. Roughly five chapters follow the arc of their life together: “A New Attachment: Life with Pollock 1942-1943” demonstrates the couple’s rather crass introduction to each other; “Coping with Peggy Guggenheim 1943-45” details the intense interaction the couple endured as Pollock’s career launched; “Coming Together: Marriage and Springs 1945-47” shares time on the East End; “Coming Apart, 1953-56” is about the period after Pollock’s death; and “Dual Identities: Artist and Widow, 1956-59” speaks of the resulting state of self and work Ms. Krasner discovered after the death of her husband in 1956.

Ms. Harrison said was pleased with Ms. Levin’s depiction of Ms. Krasner as her own person, not just in her famous husband’s shadow.

“What I like about the biography is that it does emphasize that she was first and foremost an artist, she was a woman, she was his wife, she was beyond all those things and encompassing all of those things. She was an artist, she lived the art life, which meant there was a certain amount of sacrifice and dedication required, much like when you’re taking religious orders. It’s a way of life that is all encompassing,” Ms. Harrison said.

Ms. Levin said she hopes readers will ultimately share her passion for the life of her subject and Ms. Krasner’s utter dedication to a life of art.

“[She was] an amazing artist and person,” Ms. Levin said. “[I want readers to know] how tough it was for women and men to be artists then and what life was like for artists during Krasner’s formative years ... Hopefully it offers advice on sticking to one’s goals and provides inspiration. This book is a kind of manifesto for the necessity of biographies of artists; the understory of human relationships in the networks of critics, dealers and other artists definitely affects what happens along the road to fame and fortune.”