Southampton - For many years, Lee Krasner was overshadowed by her formidable husband, the renowned painter Jackson Pollock. Yet as art historian Gail Levin shows in this first ever biography of this fascinating figure, Krasner was an independent woman of uncompromising talent and fiery genius as well as a significant artist in her own right, well deserving of recognition in the 20th century's cultural lexicon.

At turns vivid and eye-opening, "Lee Krasner: A Biography" (William Morrow; Hardcover; $30) examines the evolution of a woman whose life was as dramatic and intriguing as her art. Drawing on all new sources - and including many previously unpublished photographs - Levin offers a dynamic, comprehensive portrait of this brilliant woman (born Lena Krassner to immigrant parents) who grew up an impoverished Jewish girl in Brooklyn and began studying art at a very young age. Before she even met Pollock, she was creating modern art and was a part of all the major art circles of her time, and it was actually she who introduced him to some of the greatest artists and intellectuals of that period. She was also incredibly outspoken and sexually liberated at a time few women were; and she was unfairly branded a Trotskyite and Communist by much of the establishment.

Krasner married Pollock in 1945 and together they formed a passionate relationship defined by tenderness and duplicity that would have a significant influence on both their work. Levin probes Krasner's struggles with Pollock examining how this willful woman was wrecked by her husband's alcoholism, destructive behavior, and secret love affairs. The house Krasner and Pollock shared in East Hampton is now a museum and a National Historic Landmark.

One of the most fascinating and unique aspects of this biography is that Levin was a personal friend of Krasner's. She first met Krasner in 1970 when she was just 22 years of age and a graduate student of art history. She developed a friendship with the artist and spent a lot of time with her in the final years of Krasner's life. To this day Levin considers Krasner her mentor.

'Lee Krasner' is an extremely important biography, investigating how and demonstrating why so many authors and art historians have omitted this painter - whose work now commands millions at auction - from their accounts of first generation abstract expressionist artists. Levin finally brings Krasner the attention she has long deserved and makes a compelling case for placing her among the pioneers of abstract expressionism along with such male artists as Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman.

About The Author:
Gail Levin is the author of 12 previous books and is an expert on the lives and work of Edward Hopper and Krasner. She is currently a distinguished professor of art history at Baruch College and the Graduate School of the City of New York. She has lectured all over the world, curated exhibits in New York City, Valencia, and Tokyo and has photographs in public collection in New York and Georgia.

Upcoming Readings:

 • July 17: Guild Hall & Pollock-Krasner House, East Hampton
 • August 18: Hampton Library/"Fridays @ 5" Lecture Series, Bridgehampton