Lee Krasner

The Pace Gallery, New York
James A. Patterson, Louisville
Rothschild Fine Arts, New York
Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in October 1986

New York, The Pace Gallery, Lee Krasner/Solstice, March-April 1981
Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts; San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art; Norfolk, Chrysler Museum; Phoenix Art Museum, Lee Krasner: A Retrospective, November 1983 - February 1985, p. 6, illustrated in color
New York, Robert Miller Gallery, Lee Krasner Collages 1939 - 1984, October – November 1986, n.p., illustrated in color

Arts Magazine, April 1981, p. 37, illustrated
Gene Baro, "New York Letter," Art International, August - September 1981, p. 124, illustrated
Carter Ratcliff, "Lee Krasner at Pace," Art in America, October 1981, p. 139, illustrated (incorrect orientation)
John Russell, "It's Not Women's Art, It's Good Art," New York Times, July 24, 1983, sect. 2, p. 1, illustrated
Amei Wallach, "Krasner's Triumph," Vogue, November 1983, p. 501
Thomas Albright, "Krasner: Energy Rather than Power," Review, February 1984, p. 13
John Bernard Myers, "Naming Pictures: Conversations Between Lee Krasner and John Bernard Myers," Art Forum, November 1984, p. 73, illustrated in color
Ellen G. Landau, Lee Krasner: a Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1995, CR no. 595, p. 296, illustrated in color

This painting is in very good condition. Please contact the Contemporary Art Department at 212-606-7254 for a report prepared by Terrence Mahon. This work is framed in a white painted wood strip frame with a float.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Twelve Hour Crossing, March Twenty-first, circa 1971 – 1981 is a stunning example of Krasner's significant contribution to the development of collage, the medium that was an inventive catalyst for Modernism and Abstract Expressionism. Krasner began working this medium in the 1950s, culminating with her 1955 show at the Stable Gallery in New York.  She enjoyed the freedom provided by the random juxtapositions in which she found striking new combinations of dissonant color and shapes.

For decades, Krasner recycled fragments of her work into appliquéd sections of subsequent canvases; in this case, both former paintings on paper and pieces from the lithograph Gold Stone. She also returned to former styles and the present work, with its pink and tumbling floral shapes, is aesthetically similar to work from the 1950s. However, the hard edged, splintered collage and bright colors of Twelve Hour Crossing, March Twenty-first are specific to the artist's work of the late 1970s. Understanding Krasner's self-referential style can be explained in her own words.  ``.... All my work keeps going like a pendulum; it seems to swing back to something I was involved with earlier, or it moves between horizontality and verticality, circularity, or a composite of them.  For me, I suppose that change is the only constant." (Robert Hobbs, Lee Krasner, New York, 1993, p.73)