Mysteries - Lee Krasner

A 1972 abstract composition by Lee Krasner, featuring a bold interplay of geometric shapes in black, white, and red.

Mysteries, painted by Lee Krasner in 1972, belongs to a period in the artist's career where she revisited and reconfigured her earlier collage works. This piece demonstrates her mastery of hard-edged abstraction, moving away from the gestural brushwork often associated with the New York School. The composition relies on a restricted palette of black, white, and distinct shades of red, creating a stark visual tension between the geometric forms and the negative space. Krasner often utilised a process of cutting and rearranging her own drawings or paintings to generate new compositions. In this work, the shapes appear to have been derived from these organic, cut-out forms, resulting in a balanced yet dynamic arrangement. The large, circular white form acts as a central anchor, while the red shapes provide a sense of weight and movement. The interplay between the dark, angular sections and the lighter, curved elements creates a rhythmic quality across the canvas surface. Unlike the chaotic energy found in some of her contemporaries' works, this painting exhibits a controlled, deliberate structure. The flat application of colour and the clean edges reflect her interest in the formal properties of painting. Krasner's ability to maintain a sense of spontaneity within such a structured format is a hallmark of her later practice. This print captures the precise tonal relationships and the graphic clarity of the original oil painting, making it a clear example of her late-career aesthetic. The work invites the viewer to observe the relationship between positive and negative space, as well as the interaction of primary and secondary forms within a non-representational framework.