Krasner was closely allied with the group of American Abstract Artists, which had formed in New York in 1936 and whose artists were heavily inspired by the geometric abstraction of Piet Mondrian while at the same time interested in Surrealism. Among the Abstract Expressionists, Krasner were uniquely innovative in her use of collage. She had worked with collage as early as 1939, but it was a 1949 exhibition of cut-paper collages by by Henru Matisse that particularly influenced her. Black and White Collage is a fully realized example of Krasner's work in this area.

Lee Krasner was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1908. From 1926-1949 she studied art at several prominent New York schools including Women's Art Schools of Cooper Union, Art Students League, National Academy of Design and with Hans Hofmann. Simultaneously (from 1934 to 1942) Krasner was a mural painter with various divisions of the Works Progress Aministration and related organizations.  During the later 1940s to 1950s Krasner was an important participant in the development of Abstract Expressionism. Also during this time she married Jackson Pollock in 1945. Her first retrospective was held in the United Kingdom in 1965, but it was not until 1975 that a retrospective toured the United States. Another large-scale retrospective was formed in 1983. Krasner died in 1984 during the United States tour of this exhibition.

Source: News, May/June 1982.