Rising Green - Lee Krasner

A bold, large-scale abstract work by Lee Krasner, featuring sweeping organic forms in emerald green against a stark white and violet-blue ground.

Rising Green, painted by Lee Krasner in 1972, belongs to a period of her career where she returned to large-scale, gestural abstraction. This work demonstrates her command of form and colour, moving away from the dense, all-over compositions of her earlier work towards a more open, rhythmic structure. The canvas features bold, sweeping shapes in a deep emerald green, set against a stark white ground and a dark, moody violet-blue background. Krasner often utilised a process of cutting up her own earlier drawings and paintings to create new compositions, a method that informs the sharp, graphic quality seen here. The forms in Rising Green possess a vegetal, organic quality, suggesting growth or movement, yet they remain firmly within the realm of abstraction. The interplay between the positive and negative space creates a sense of tension and balance. The edges of the green forms are clean and deliberate, contrasting with the fluid, almost calligraphic nature of the shapes themselves. This piece reflects Krasner's ability to synthesise her experiences within the New York School with a personal, intuitive approach to painting. By stripping away unnecessary detail, she focuses on the power of colour and line to convey energy. The composition is not merely a static arrangement; it suggests a continuous, unfolding process. As an artist who often operated in the shadow of her contemporaries, Krasner's later works like this one confirm her status as a significant figure in the development of American modernism. The work is a clear example of her late-career focus on clarity, scale, and the physical act of painting.