Lee Krasner: A Biography - Softcover

Levin, Gail

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062017799 ISBN 13: 9780062017796

Publisher: Harperluxe, 2011

Synopsis

Perhaps best known as the long-suffering wife of Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner is now, finally, being recognized as one of the 20th century's modernist masters. In Lee Krasner, author Gail Levin gives us an engrossing biography of the painter--so memorably portrayed in the movie Pollack by actor Marcia Gay Harden, who won an Academy Award for her performance--a firebrand and trailblazer for women's rights as well as an exceptional artist who led a truly fascinating life.

About this title

Review:

"Gail Levin's biography of Lee Krasner beautifully evokes a period in American art that laid the groundwork for the women artists of today. Lee... contributed wonderful work but also encouraged a whole new generation of artists. She grew into true generativity. Bless her and her biographer!"--Erica Jong

"Levin deftly connects Krasner's biography to the social and political upheaval of the time. Her long experience in the art world gives insight into the landscape of 20th-century artists, art dealers and museums."--Kirkus Reviews

"Written with unassuming grace. This rigorously researched, straightforward account attempts to set the record straight about Krasner....the artist could not have found a more gifted biographer to retell her story and argue her case.... [a] fascinating and absorbing biography."--Jewish Daily Forward

"[B]iographer Gail Levin sets the record straight: Krasner was a fierce, fascinating and gifted artist... Lee Krasner adds more luster, meticulously tracing the artist's life."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Rigorous research, deep knowledge of art and cultural history, penetrating analysis and a flair for storytelling bring to life a fully formed Lee Krasner. Those who never knew her will wish they had, and those who did will be amazed."--Helen A. Harrison, Director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

"Ms. Levin's perceptive, judicious book reveals Krasner as a fine, important painter....This is an insightful, sharply drawn portrait of 20th-century America from the vantage point of a creative woman swept up in a realm of remarkable artistic productivity."--Wall Street Journal

"For the love of art....Art historian Gail Levin frames the extremely colorful life of Lee Krasner, major ass-kicking Abstract Expressionist and formidable genius in her own right, better known for boosting the career of her splashier-than-life husband, Jackson Pollock."--Vanity Fair

"It's about time someone set the record straight about artist Lee Krasner.... Absorbing.... Succinct... Invaluable.... A compelling biography that is as important an addition to the library of American art as any book on Pollock."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Compelling. Art historian Gail Levin has drawn on her close association with Lee Krasner and extensive research to produce a biography that rings fair and true.--Los Angeles Times

Gail Levin's stunning new biography finally proves Krasner's relationship with Jackson Pollock was only a sliver of an enormously colorful life.... Levin's biography ensures that Lee Krasner will never again be known merely as "Mrs. Jackson Pollock.--Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the Back Cover:

Lee Krasner is best known as the artist-wife of Jackson Pollock, the renowned abstract expressionist painter. Yet in this riveting biography, the first full-length account of her life, distinguished art historian Gail Levin shows that Lee Krasner was a significant artist who deserves her place in the twentieth century's cultural lexicon and artistic pantheon.

During the Great Depression, Krasner supported herself painting murals for the WPA, was called a Trotskyite for speaking out at the Artists Union, and got arrested for demonstrating on behalf of workers' rights. Her life changed in 1945 when she began her troubled marriage with Jackson Pollock. In Lee Krasner, Levin examines how this strong woman struggled to meet the challenges of Pollock's alcoholism and infidelity, all while encouraging his art.

Lee Krasner is a dynamic, compelling, and moving portrait of a brilliant woman artist whose dramatic life is part of the cultural fabric of America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harperluxe
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0062017799
• ISBN 13: 9780062017796
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 854