Current Exhibition

The East End: In the Abstract

Highlights from the permanent collection of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center

Background

For nearly a century, Long Island's East End has been a sanctuary tor abstract artists. From these shores they produced a new alphabet; symbols belonging to a universal language of line, color, shape, and gesture.  In 1944, two of the leading figures within the Abstract Expressionist movement, Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, traded their Manhattan apartment and loft studios tor a rustic farmhouse and barn studio in the Springs, a rural hamlet of East Hampton. In the coming years, throngs of abstract artists would relocate to Eastern Long Island or establish seasonal studios here.  No single aspect of the region attracted these artists. Likewise no two abstractions are exactly alike. Each gesture is uniquely that of its maker and each impression left on the viewer specific to their own personal context and perspective. 

Works

The works featured in this exhibition, highlights from the permanent collection of Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, celebrate some of the abstract artists who lived and worked on the East End.  Though not comprehensive, these paintings, prints, and drawings suggest something of the variety of abstract art produced here during the mid-to-late 20th century. Works by the recently departed Joe Zucker and East Hampton-based painter Susan Vecsey exemplify how this tradition persists into the contemporary moment. 

Artists

James Brooks (1906-1992)
Herman Cherry (1909-1992)
Perle Fine (1905-1988)
Helen Hoie (1911-2000) 
Lee Krasner (1908-1984)
John Little (1907-1984)
Joseph Meert (1905-1989)
Alfonso Ossorio (1916-1990)
Charlotte Park (1918-2010)
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
David Slivka (1914-2010)
Syd Solomon (1917-2004)
Ronald J. Stein (1930-2000)
Susan Vecsey (b. 1971) 
Joe Zucker (1941-2024) 

Download: Exhibit Brochure | Object List | Object Descriptions