Dorothy Krakovsky

About Dorothy Krakovsky (American, 1923 – 2014):

Dorothy Krakovsky grew up during the Depression in Minnesota, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants. Krakovsky, who had nurtured a love of art for years, moved to Oakland, California and, at the age of 38, enrolled in the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1961. After graduating she hoped to teach art, but, unable to find a job, she and Chere (her daughter) moved to Iowa City where Krakovsky enrolled in the Master of Art program at the University of Iowa where she earned her MA in 1970 at the age of 47. The curriculum at Iowa focused on painting and there at the university’s museum Krakovsky frequently saw abstract works by iconic painters, including Jackson Pollack, Joseph Albers and other painters from the university’s permanent collection.  In her master’s thesis, Krakovsky stated she decided to pursue non-objective painting. 

From 1970 through 2011 Krakovsky struggled with personal health issues and needed to live on public assistance. She moved to Southern California where her daughter studied at Cal Arts and eventually moved to New York City. Lack of resources hampered Krakovsky’s ability to purchase supplies necessary for her painting in California. During that period Karakovsky herself tried to take undergraduate painting courses to stay engaged with her passion as much as she could afford. From 1997 to 1999 Krakovsky was able to take classes at the Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture. Her paintings were included some group exhibitions, but none remain as she was unable to afford to store them or eventually move them to New York.        

Learning in her 80s that she had cancer, Krakovsky moved to New York to be near her daughter.  There, Krakovsky studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan under Bruce Dorfman and Larry Poons, whose allover paintings, together with Milton Resnick’s work, had greatly influenced and inspired her once again.  In 2010 Krakovsky also studied at Hunter college under the renowned colorist Robert Swain. Krakovsky’s most productive period of painting, and probably the most exhilarating part of her career, occurred during the last four years of her life. In those four years, her work transitioned through an astonishing number of different phases and techniques. In 2011 Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn, New York exhibited a few of Krakovsky’s small paintings in their sidewalk space as part of their Retrospective Project. Then, after seeing her larger paintings and astounding output from the four years at the Art Students League and Hunter College, Soapbox produced a solo exhibition of nine large paintings for Krokovsky at the age of 90.