Inspiration from Artist Week 120 : Lee Krashner and Francis Hamel .

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Welcome to this weeks thread the featuring artist are : Lee Krashner and Francis Hamel. Martin will open the week with is I introduction to Lee Krashner , on Wednesday  lunchtime Robert will introduce us to his chosen artist Francis Hamel . Have a good week and enjoy the artwork . 
Lee Krasner (1908-1984) was born Lena Krassner in Brooklyn to Ukrainian parents. Like a great many artists, she was supported by the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal project to provide employment in the Great Depression. She studied under Hans Hofmann (seen as one of the most important figures in abstract art education) and was a founding member of the American Abstract Artists dating back to 1936. Her canvases are viewed as pioneering examples of the AbEx genre. Relatively little of her early work survives since she tended to cut them up and reuse them as collage elements! The best starting point to appreciate her work is to watch a 20 minute chronological compilation of stills of her paintings (accompanied by some great jazz -- A Night in Tunisia being a particular favourite of mine). This compilation shows her evolution from conventional portrature through cubism, Dufy/Matisse/Picasso-influenced stuff to her own take on abstract expressionism. The characteristics I most appreciate in her work are dynamism and freedom from the grid, and the fact that she achieved density and sustained interest yet always allowed the painting to breathe (something I find difficult to achieve). Some examples to follow...
Shattered Color
Shattered Light
Porcelain  
Gothic Landscape, 1961 (own photo from the Tate)
Bald Eagle (own photo from the 2023 exhibition at the Whitechapel)
Finally, Prophecy. This was on the easel while Krasner was in France in 1956 when she received news of the car crash that killed her husband, Jackson Pollock.
Thank you Martin for  introducing this artist , I will look at her work later. 
I struggle with this style of painting.  There is no doubt that apparently random combinations of colours and brush strokes can make a visually attractive painting, but so can wallpaper.  I have chosen one of her works which I think begins to approach my point of view.
I found this one entitled “White Squares” which I like: I’d never heard of her, so thanks for the intro. 
I had heard of her as the wife of Jackson Pollock, but wasn’t familiar with her work.  I like some of her bolder, more colourful paintings.

Edited
by Jenny Harris

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