Life of Lee Krasner Becomes Children's Coloring Book

Lee Krasner’s legacy lives in East Hampton, and now it lives on pages for kids to color in the lines.

“Lee Krasner: An Artist’s Life” is a new biography of the acclaimed artist written by Allan Zola Kronzek and Ruby Jackson, published by and on sale at the Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center in East Hampton. The 32-page book features Ms. Krasner’s life story with illustrations of her biggest moments left mostly black and white for young readers to color in. The book covers the essential parts of Ms. Krasner’s life: her birth in Brooklyn on October 27, 1908, her time painting abstract art during The Great Depression and World War II, her marriage with artist Jackson Pollock and her death on June 19, 1984.

Pollock is a prominent name in art history and culture, but Ms. Krasner does not have the same popularity as her husband does. This was noted by the Ms. Jackson, the book’s illustrator, who has worked as an assistant to Helen A. Harrison, the Pollock-Krasner House’s director, for 13 years. According to Ms. Harrison, Ms. Jackson saw the need from the view of the house’s store.

“Ruby is responsible for the store and a couple of years ago, she noticed that there were all of these books about Jackson, but none about Lee,” Ms. Harrison said. “Not even any children’s books, so she told me she and Allan, her husband, wanted to write a book for Lee.”

Ms. Jackson wanted to put the book together due to the strong connection she felt to Ms. Krasner, both as an artist and on a personal level.

“I felt called upon to do it,” Ms. Jackson said, sitting in her colorful home surrounded by her own art. “I also felt related to her because we were both little girls who went to Hebrew school, we loved to draw, and I also felt a great admiration for her journey. She’s often dismissed; people say she was in Pollock’s shadow, which is true, but people acknowledge that if it was not for her, he would not have achieved so much. She was very strong, very focused—had a great art education—and very direct.”

Mr. Kronzek also penned “A Book of Magic for Young Magicians: The Secrets of Alkazar” and the New York Times bestseller “The Sorcerer’s Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter.” Ms. Jackson is a sculptor, painter art educator and illustrator. The husband-and-wife team of Mr. Kronzek and Ms. Jackson have worked together before, as she did the illustrations for “The Sorcerer’s Companion.”

Ms. Harrison, who edited “Lee Krasner: An Artist’s Life” and did page layout, said she understood why the book was necessary right away.

“This book was aimed at children from the beginning. There was a vacancy that needed filling and we thought people should know about Lee and her story. We thought having the coloring book aspect would make the book more accessible for kids,” Ms. Harrison said.

“If you ever want to know about something quickly, go to a kids’ book,” Ms. Jackson said. “It’s going to be easier to understand and you can get a quick view of something. And also, children are the future. If they don’t know about somebody, they’re not going to be interested.” Taking someone’s life and cutting it down to 32 pages was a daunting task. For Mr. Kronzek, it certainly was not done on the first try.

“When I was brought on board to choose the words, I went overboard and I had all the details and it kept getting bigger and bigger,” he said. “I showed it to Ruby and she said, ‘That’s way too much,’ and then I showed it to Helen and she said, ‘That’s way, way too much!’ So we chopped it down in that the story could be told in five- to 10-year increments. All for the best.”

“I’m very pleased with the form of the book,” Ms. Jackson said. “I liked very much the flow of it, how the readers can go from her single years, to her art and then into the photos of her marriage.”

Ms. Jackson met Ms. Krasner while working at a store called East Hampton Leathers in 1981.

“She would come in and she wouldn’t want to talk to any of us,” Ms. Jackson recalled. “She was not a very glamorous figure. But that wasn’t what I wanted from her. She was very fierce and not wasting her breath on anyone less than who she wanted to talk to. Directed, fierce, force of nature: you bet that’s who I want to be.”