Easter Lilies

1956

American, 1908 - 1984

Lee Krasner is one of the great innovators of the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York. In 1937, she received a scholarship to study at Hans Hofmann’s School of Fine Arts in Greenwich Village, New York, where she began her reinterpretation of Cubist conceptions of space. Married to Jackson Pollock in 1945, Krasner’s own achievements were long overshadowed by her husband’s career, even though she was a formidable painter and innovator and included in leading exhibitions with Abstract Expressionists as early as the 1940s and ’50s. Like other artists from this era, Krasner became deeply interested in psychoanalysis and the idea of dynamic relationships, which she explored in her work. Krasner’s work is much sought after. Although some key works are in the collection of the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, many of her paintings are still in private hands. This has inadvertently resulted in an under-representation of her work and ideas.
Easter Lilies was painted immediately following Krasner’s earlier foray into large-scale collages. Here she reinvents a Cubist space through an expressive painterly vocabulary. Unlike the Cubists who remained committed to relationships among real objects, Krasner pushes deeply into abstraction, giving the painting a tight composition and vivid movement. After a long period of experimentation, this painting set Krasner on a productive and highly expressive painterly course. This seminal painting represents Lee Krasner at her very best, showing Krasner and Pollock (whose Sea Change, 1947, 58.55, is one of the highlights of the collection) on equal terms. Easter Lilies adds a different dimension to the story of Abstract Expressionism and shines a light on an important female painter from that generation.

Oil on canvas

48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4cm)

Partial and promised gift of Jeffrey and Susan Brotman, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2012.30.1

Provenance: Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York; Robert Miller Gallery, New York, New York; Private Collection, New York, New York; Cheim & Read, New York, New York; Jeffrey and Susan Brotman, Medina, WA

Photo: Susan Cole

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLondon, England, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Lee Krasner: Paintings, Drawings and Collages, Sept. - Oct. 1965 (York, England, City Art Gallery, Apr. 30 - May 21, 1966; Hull, England, Ferens Art Gallery, May 28 - June 18, 1966; Nottingham, England, Victoria Street Gallery, June 28 - July 16, 1966; Manchester, England, City Art Gallery, Aug. 20 - Sept. 10, 1966; Cardiff, England, Arts Council Gallery, Sept. 17 - Oct. 8, 1966).

Miami, Florida, Miami Dade Community College, Lee Krasner: Selections from 1946 - 1972, March 4 - 21, 1974 (Glendale, Pennsylvania, Beaver College, Apr. 3 - 12, 1974; Charleston, South Carolina, Gibbes Art Gallery, June 14 - July 14, 1974).

New York, New York, Landmark Gallery, About Flowers, Apr. 25 - May 14, 1981.

Houston, Texas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Lee Krasner: A Retrospective, Nov. 28, 1983 - Jan. 8, 1984 (San Francisco, California, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Feb. 9 - April 1, 1984). Text by Barbara Rose, pp. 93, 95, reproduced p. 92.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, SAM at 75: Building a Collection for Seattle, May 5 - Sept. 9, 2007. Text by Chiyo Ishikawa, reproduced p. 33.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Elles: SAM - Singular Works by Seminal Women Artists, Oct. 6, 2012 - Feb. 17, 2013.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, From Abstract Expressionsim to Colored Planes, March 16, 2013 - Feb. 10, 2014.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Big Picture: Art After 1945, July 23, 2016 - May 16, 2021 [on view July 23 - Nov. 8, 2016].

Published ReferencesSmith, Griffin, "Lee Krasner - A Re-evaluation at Last", March 17, 1974, Miami Herald

Smith, Griffin, "Miami Beach: A New Bass?" New York, ART news Associates, May 1974, ART News

Landau, Ellen G., Eugene V. Thaw, Jeffrey Grove. Lee Krasner: A Catalogue Raisonne. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1995

König, Barbara. 50 Stilleben von Malerinnen. Leutkirch: Kunstverlag Josef Fink, 2019; p. 80, reproduced.

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