Art in Focus Lectures
Tuesdays at 6 p.m. EDT on Zoom
Co-sponsored by Stony Brook Southampton Library       
The talks are free, but registration is required
Made possible by support from the John H. Marburger III Fund of Stony Brook University.
October 5
Ellen G. Landau
Lee Krasner, Hans Hofmann and the Role of Drawing in Modernism

The discovery in 2018 of sixteen unknown figural sketches created by Lee Krasner at the Hans Hofmann School of Art in 1937-40 presents a perfect opportunity to reconsider the importance of her now-famous charcoal drawings from this so-called student period. Stored for decades in an overlooked portfolio, this well-preserved group of works reconfirms how Krasner’s experience of drawing from the model—a seemingly traditional activity—actually played a radical role in her learning process and ultimate development as an artist.
Ellen G. Landau is an independent art historian and curator. Her important publications include an award-winning monograph, Jackson Pollock (1989); Lee Krasner: A Catalogue Raisonné (1995); Reading Abstract Expressionism: Context and Critique (2005); and Mexico and American Modernism (2013). Her most recent essay is in the Kasmin Gallery catalog for Lee Krasner Charcoals, exhibited at Art Basel in 2021. 
October 19
Debra Bricker Balken
Harold Rosenberg, A Critic’s Life
Harold Rosenberg is still known primarily for a single essay, “The American Action Painters,” published in ARTnews in 1952. Not only did it galvanize a still unnamed community of vanguard artists—later known as the New York School—but action became a trope for mid-century art that lasted well into the early 1960s. Debra’s talk, which draws from her intellectual biography, Harold Rosenberg, A Critic’s Life, published this month, focuses on Rosenberg’s notion of action and how its meanings and themes foreshadowed the waning of the modern period.
Debra Bricker Balken has organized many exhibitions on American modernism and contemporary art. Her award-wining books include Philip Guston’s Poor Richard (2001) and Abstract Expressionism: Movements in Modern Art (2005). Among her exhibition catalogs are Dove/O’Keeffe: Circles of Influence (2009), John Marin: Modernism at Midcentury (2011), and Mark Tobey: Threading Light (2017). She recently completed a revision of Arthur Dove: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings and Things, which was published in May.
October education programs on Zoom
Led by Education Coordinator Joyce Raimondo

The programs are free, but registration is required
Made possible by support from the Thaw Charitable Trust Endowment
More than a Pretty Face!
Picasso, Pollock, and Cubism
Wednesday, October 6
2:30 - 3:45 p.m. EDT
Why would Picasso give a woman a blue face and a dagger for a tongue? Why would Pollock paint an eye on the back of someone's head? Live on Zoom, tour the exhibition, Picasso in Pollock, and discover how each artist painted expressive Cubist portraits. Learn about Picasso’s influence on Pollock’s painting.

Then, guided by Joyce, create a unique Cubist face that expresses emotion using cut paper collage. Have supplies on hand: paper for your project, assorted colored papers to cut, glue and scissors, paint or drawing material. 
Virtual Road Trip:
Clyfford Still Museum
Tuesday, October 12
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. EDT
This special Zoom tour takes visitors on a cross-country trip from Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner’s barn studio in East Hampton, New York, to the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado. Shortly before Pollock’s death, he and Still planned a road trip heading West. The trip never happened, as Pollock was killed in a car accident.

This program celebrates the friendship and work of these two pioneering abstract expressionists. Joyce will guide visitors through the Pollock-Krasner studio, followed by a presentation with Kendra Keenan, Educator and Group Tour Coordinator, at the Clyfford Still Museum.  
Fall Into Art! Painting Nature
Tuesday, October 19
3:00 - 4:15 p.m. EDT

Discover how abstract artists have been inspired by the beauty of Eastern Long Island. Tour the studio and home of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner and learn creative ways they and other artists use the natural world as inspiration for abstract forms. Following the tour, Joyce will demonstrate how you can capture the beauty of autumn by creating your own abstract art. Have paint supplies on hand. 
Remembering Lee
Wednesday, October 27
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Celebrate Lee Krasner's 113th birthday with a video tour of Krasner's home and studio with Joyce, followed by special guests who will discuss the artist's life and work from first-hand knowledge. Those who knew Lee and would like to share memories are welcome to join.

Desire Caught by the Tail
A Play by Pablo Picasso

A staged reading in celebration of Picasso's birthday

Save the date: Sunday, October 24
Location and ticketing information available soon

Produced in conjunction with Picasso in Pollock
Performed by Lightning Rod Special, directed by Scott Sheppard in cooperation with the John Drew Theater of Guild Hall, Josh Gladstone, Artistic Director
In the winter of 1941, soon after the Germans had occupied Paris, Picasso spent three days writing a play entitled Le Désir attrapé par la queue, which translates literally to "Desire caught by the tail." It was first presented at a reading in the Paris apartment of Michel Leiris in 1944, shown in the Brassaï photo below. The parts were read by such local literati as Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Valentine Hugo, Raymond Queneau and Picasso himself. Albert Camus directed.
Described as "surrealistic" and "simply weird," the play is rarely produced due to sheer incomprehensibility. In 1984 a production by the Eye and Ear Theater, directed by Taylor Mead, was presented at the John Drew Theater in conjunction with the Guild Hall exhibition, "Artists in the Theater."

While the narrative is nonlinear and the meaning nearly impossible to decipher, the work has been praised despite (and sometimes for) its lack of message. According to legend, when Picasso showed it Gertrude Stein, she advised him to go back to painting.

This reading of "Desire Caught by the Tail" is made possible by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Picasso in Pollock
Through October 31
A hybrid exhibition examining Picasso's influence on Pollock. Free with museum admission, which is by advance reservation. Unvaccinated adults and children are required to wear masks indoors and outside.
Seeing Past the Future
Online exhibition hosted by Artland

Organized by Shimon Attie and Norman L. Kleeblattt, assisted by Talya Feldman, the exhibition features the work of 29 artists who received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation since the onset of COVID-19. The exhibition remains available on the Artland platform.

Your support is sincerely appreciated

Please click here for a list of those who help support the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.
Those wishing to donate in memory of our founding director, Meg Perlman, should send checks made out to Stony Brook Fdn / PK to the Pollock-Krasner House, 830 Springs-Fireplace Road, East Hampton, NY 11937, with Meg's name in the subject line.
Guided tours by advance reservation Thursdays through Sundays


The Study Center is available to researchers year-round. For access to Study Center collections, Please call (631) 324-4929

Office and Museum Store hours:
Tuesdays-Saturdays
9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
830 Springs-Fireplace Road
East Hampton, NY 11937
Phone: (631) 324-4929

A National Historic Landmark