[From the top: Lee Krasner with nieces and nephew in her parents' garden in Huntington, Long Island, circa 1934-36 from Gail Levin's Lee Krasner: A Biography; a Krasner serigraph promoting an exhibition in 1974; Jennifer Ament's butterfly print; kantha pillow from Jayson Home.]
[Mossy pots, also Jayson Home & Garden; paint-splattered brushes via therottenones.com.]
[Banda indoor/outdoor ottoman.]
I love the picture of Lee Krasner outdoors with her nieces and nephew. To be honest, until I started reading Gail Levin's book, Lee Krasner: A Biography, I knew very little about Krasner and her life before Jackson Pollock. I didn't know that during her Cooper Union days she took Ethel Traphagen's Costume Design and Illustration course, acquiring a new respect for clothing designers, or that in her youth Krasner was known for using style -- for being very fashion forward. Always in-tune with nature, she also enjoyed other illustration work, such as studies of hands, butterflies, beetles and fossils.
In fact, the book highlights all sorts of interesting things about art education in New York in the early 20th century and the jobs open to women in the creative industries. Levin's story is definitely unvarnished and not romanticized, but nonetheless it's hard not to have a few thoughts of an idyllic little beach-side artist's shack.
Here are some things I'd take with me.
[Dish towels and soap from Basic French.]
[Yellow McCoy bowl.]
And any one of these sets from Green & Stone of Chelsea. I know I post some sort of G &S set every summer but I wanted an excuse to mention the venerable shop has added a video tour to its site.
BTW: John Marin's Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism opens at the High June 26. Marin's work had a significant impact on the Abstract Expressionist movement and this exhibition explores the groundbreaking impact of his watercolors specifically. Of special note is a group of 40 watercolors from the collection of Alfred Stieglitz. Learn more here.