American Art Collaborative

In 1940, Lee Krasner joined the American Abstract Artists, a group that promoted international ideas on abstraction and non-objective art. Composition shows the powerful impact of European modernists Piet Mondrian and Pablo Picasso on her work. At this point in her career, Krasner often combined nature and abstraction in the form of a still-life. She did not sign Composition at first, though her signature was later added, possibly by her husband, Jackson Pollock, who signed other works. Pollock insisted she sign her paintings despite Krasner's protests that European artists, such as Mondrian, did not. She later scraped down many of her works from this period to be used for future paintings.