Join us for the first in a series of in-depth conversations about art and artists hosted by Westport's own Stacy Bass.
In this kickoff event, Stacy and Bobbi Coller will engage in a lively, illustrated conversation exploring the fascinating relationship between Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, viewing examples of their vibrant work and tracing the arcs of their careers.
Before people used the term “power couple,” Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner were two of the most groundbreaking artists of the radically new Abstract Expressionist Movement that was centered in New York City. While Pollock’s distinctively energetic method of pouring paint directly onto the canvas was at first controversial, he gained a mythic notoriety during his short life, and he is now considered one of the most iconic artists of the twentieth century.
It took much longer for the art of his wife, Lee Krasner, to be appreciated and valued. The recent cultural drive to reassess the overlooked accomplishment of women artists has led to a realization of the strength of Krasner’s work, as well as her essential participation in the creation of mid-twentieth century abstraction. Her paintings and collages have now been displayed all over the world, sold for record-breaking prices at arthouse auctions, and prized in the collections of major museums.
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Bobbi Coller is an art historian, independent curator, and art educator. She received a BS in Education from New York University and a PhD in Art History from The Graduate Center of CUNY. She has taught Modern and Contemporary Art at Long Island University, and has curated over 30 exhibitions including “The Artist’s Mother: Portraits and Homages,” which was shown at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. In addition, several of her exhibitions were circulated throughout the United States by the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibitions Service.
Coller has admired the work of both Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner for many years and has worked to preserve the legacies of the two artists. She is currently the Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs, N.Y., the landmarked home and studio of both artists. She curated two exhibitions for that site: The Persistence of Pollock in 2012, which marked the hundredth anniversary of the artist’s birth, and Pollock’s Champions in 2014, the first exhibition to focus on Pollock’s relationships with his three lifetime dealers.
Coller has a home in Westport.
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A political science/photojournalism major from Barnard College, Columbia University, Stacy Bass began to focus on fine art and commercial photography in college and then studied at the Maine Photographic Workshops — with masters Jay Maisel, Joe Baraban, and William Albert Allard. From her first solo exhibition in 1988, her fine art work has become part of numerous private, corporate and hotel collections and her images and unique perspective continues to tap into the emotion and sensibility of a wide spectrum of viewers. Select pieces of her fine art work are currently represented by Sue Appleton-Webster at Swoon Gallery in Westport.
Always with an eye and an interest in all things visual, Bass' career ambitions have taken her through numerous magazine positions, including a senior position at fine art photography start-up: On Seeing.
Bass is also a graduate of NYU School of Law where she concentrated on Copyright, Art, and Entertainment law and later used her expertise to become vice president of a publicly traded motion picture and television company, Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
Bass has been capturing the essence of a place through an intuitive use of light, color, and composition for almost two decades. Her signature images of architecture, interiors, and gardens have resulted in three solo exhibitions and numerous awards. Her photography has been featured extensively in books and magazines including at home (where she was lead photographer for more than 10 years), Garden Design, Luxe Interiors + Design, House Beautiful, Elle Décor, Veranda, AD, Horticulture, Living Etc., British Homes & Gardens, The Wall Street Journal, and many more. She is the author of two best-selling and critically acclaimed monographs/books celebrating the American landscape: In the Garden (Melcher Media/Perseus Books, 2012) and Gardens at First Light (Moffly Media, 2015).
Art History Research
Westport Local Artists
Women are...
