'Gothic Landscape' — vanguardgirl

by Lee Krasner, 1961

Oil on canvas, Tate Modern, London

Upon walking into the Transformed Visions gallery of Tate Modern back in 2013, an area devoted to abstract works, I stumbled across Gothic Landscape painted by Lee Krasner in 1961. It became the starting point of my undergraduate dissertation. Her painting was placed alongside that of Yellow Islands, a work painted by her husband and fellow Abstract Expressionist, Jackson Pollock.

The short five sentences that summarise Krasner's work in the information label hung underneath her painting serve as the only demonstration, apart from the work itself, to tell the viewer of its meaning, its significance and its value to the art world and public. Within this information panel, Krasner is defined by her gender, with the label stating that her work was often “eclipsed by his [Jackson Pollock’s] rise to fame”. It goes on to describe how this piece was made in the years following his death and how it reflected her grief at his passing. Although Pollock was extremely influential in Krasner’s professional and private life, her voice is lost by simply defining her as woman, wife and widow.

The very title Gothic Landscape suggests a gloomy scene. It could be argued that Krasner chose this title because the central thick, black vertical lines are suggestive of haunted trees, and the below swirls of jet represent the roots. The thing about Abstract Expressionism is that, although these works are abstract, there is always a hint of narrative - something that is pulled from the unconscious of the viewer when attempting to read such paintings.

Gothic Landscape was produced five years after Pollock’s death and many scholars have stated that this painting was Krasner’s response of grief at his passing. On the surface, the work appears as a violent expression of pain and sorrow, spontaneous and immediate - but this can’t be wholly true if it took several years to produce. To some degree, as much as this painting might carry grief, it too carries a sense of independence for the artist, and from Pollock.

Pollock’s paintings were unplanned and impromptu, and although Krasner does take on board this approach to painting, there is too a sense of contemplation and reflection. The period in which Krasner painted Gothic Landscape was a time when the equal rights of women were being discussed and debated - especially topics such as equal pay, opportunities for female managerial roles and fair responsibility in raising children or housework. Krasner’s art became most self critical during this time, especially in contrast to her earlier works such as her Little Images series, which were smaller in scale and far less gestural.

After Pollock’s death, Krasner began working in the barn which was previously his studio, allowing her to produce larger scale works such as Gothic Landscape, free of the confines of the upstairs bedroom. In this work, Krasner embraces a newfound technique where she makes swift, sweeping brush marks, highly dynamic and energetic in style.