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Lot Essay
Lee Krasner's Forest is an exemplar of Abstract Expressionism at it's most fraught and powerful, the canvas becoming a screen for the projection of the psychological state of the artist. A direct retort to the unfavorable reviews that her 1951 show at the Betty Parsons Gallery received, these new works began with self inflicted destruction.
"It started in 1953-I had a studio hung solidly with drawings...floor to ceiling all around. Walked in one day, hated it all, took it down, tore everything and threw it on the floor, and when I went back-it was a few weeks before I opened that door again-it was seemingly a very destructive act...Well, it started with drawings. Then I took my canvases and cut and began doing the same thing, and that ended in my collage show in 1955" (B. Diamonstein quoted in R. Hobbs, Lee Krasner, New York, 1999, p. 199).
Intensely revealing, Krasner began her collage series possibly as a response to the despondency and increasing self-destruction of her husband, Jackson Pollock. Her attack on her own work may have even extended to his as well; the catalogue raisonné of her work speculates that there may be parts of Pollock's compositions included in Forest.
The culmination of these tumultuous acts was Krasner's 1955 solo show at the venerated Stable gallery. This exhibition was met with critical acclaim, and Clement Greenberg referred to it as one of the most important exhibitions of the decade, cementing Krasner's position as a central protagonist of the period. This response is echoed in the fact that similar works from this series are included in many esteemed public and private collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Des Moines Art Center, Kunstmuseum Bern, and Deutsche Bank.
"This has all happened before- In an insane dream...So many things I have discarded and tried to find again...Is it really a fear of seeing yourself. Stark naked...What are you running from-From whom did you inherit your greed-Must you have it all-Why not learn to live with the fragments that are meant for you-Do you really think you can harness the sun?" (L. Krasner quoted in E. Landau, Lee Krasner: A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1995, p. 311).
"It started in 1953-I had a studio hung solidly with drawings...floor to ceiling all around. Walked in one day, hated it all, took it down, tore everything and threw it on the floor, and when I went back-it was a few weeks before I opened that door again-it was seemingly a very destructive act...Well, it started with drawings. Then I took my canvases and cut and began doing the same thing, and that ended in my collage show in 1955" (B. Diamonstein quoted in R. Hobbs, Lee Krasner, New York, 1999, p. 199).
Intensely revealing, Krasner began her collage series possibly as a response to the despondency and increasing self-destruction of her husband, Jackson Pollock. Her attack on her own work may have even extended to his as well; the catalogue raisonné of her work speculates that there may be parts of Pollock's compositions included in Forest.
The culmination of these tumultuous acts was Krasner's 1955 solo show at the venerated Stable gallery. This exhibition was met with critical acclaim, and Clement Greenberg referred to it as one of the most important exhibitions of the decade, cementing Krasner's position as a central protagonist of the period. This response is echoed in the fact that similar works from this series are included in many esteemed public and private collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Des Moines Art Center, Kunstmuseum Bern, and Deutsche Bank.
"This has all happened before- In an insane dream...So many things I have discarded and tried to find again...Is it really a fear of seeing yourself. Stark naked...What are you running from-From whom did you inherit your greed-Must you have it all-Why not learn to live with the fragments that are meant for you-Do you really think you can harness the sun?" (L. Krasner quoted in E. Landau, Lee Krasner: A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1995, p. 311).