"As I say, I as an abstract artist was active politically"

Lee Krasner’s assertion highlights the inseparable relationship between her abstract artistic practice and her commitment to political engagement. At first glance, abstract art, with its forms and colors seemingly unbound from literal representation, might appear to stand apart from direct political activism or commentary. However, for Krasner, abstraction itself was a deeply political act. She gestures toward the idea that creating art outside conventional representational modes, especially as a woman artist in mid-20th century America, constituted an act of resistance and affirmation.

Her words reveal a personal conviction that abstract art, rather than being isolated from the socio-political currents of the day, could be an active force within them. During the tumultuous decades of her career, American society grappled with questions of democracy, freedom, and social justice. The Abstract Expressionist movement, to which Krasner belonged, found itself enmeshed in Cold War politics, even as its artists sought genuine personal expression. Krasner navigated a landscape where to paint with radical innovation was, implicitly, a challenge to artistic and cultural orthodoxies. Through abstraction, she could assert her autonomy as an artist and an individual.

Krasner’s assertion that she was “active politically” while working as an abstract artist also points to the ways in which art-making can be activism. Her participation in movements for artists’ rights, her rejection of the marginalization of women in art institutions, and her visibility in a male-dominated field were all inherently political acts. Every brushstroke was shaped by the convictions and struggles that marked her life. Ultimately, Krasner challenges any division between the aesthetic and the political. Art, for her, was not only about personal expression but equally implicated in the urgent issues of her time, allowing her to make a statement about individuality, resistance, and belonging.