Lee Krasner: A Biography

For far too long, the artist Lee Krasner's reputation has been overshadowed by that of her renowned husband, artist Jackson Pollock. This lively, well-researched biography by Levin (Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography) finally corrects this injustice. Writing with a novelist's flair for characterization and scene-setting, the author traces Krasner's life through the miseries of the Great Depression to the world of art and leftist politics of New York in the %E2%80%9830s and %E2%80%9840s. While Krasner's artistic genius was temporarily blunted by her marriage, Levin proves she was a phenomenal artist in her own right who was exhausted by having to manage Pollock's personal and artistic life. An artist with a deeply prophetic and eerie style, Krasner's final years with Pollock were awful; mercifully, her "instinct for self-preservation emerged out of the chaos of [his] self-destructive binges," and Krasner set up a separate artistic studio and focused her energies on her own work. This biography crackles with juicy behind-the-scenes stories of America's rarefied mid-century art world, showcasing the genius of the preternaturally gifted Krasner. (Mar.)