Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | TuneIn | RSS
This episode Megan & Milena cover German neo-Freudian psychoanalyst Karen Horney and American Abstract Expressionism painter Lee Krasner.
Karen Horney
This is Karen Horney, MD. She is tired of people making everything about dicks.
Specifically, she was tired of Freud making everything about dicks and then spearheaded a new movement of psychoanalysis along with, like, four other individuals in her field at the time. It is very aptly and stoically named Neo Freudianism. We’re not going to get into the other doctors; but we are going to get into her. In a non-repressed sexuality sort of way.
This is because, while she was not the only psychoanalyst that expanded on and disproved Freudian’s theories, she seemed to be the only one including the psychology of women in a sea of privileged white men.
While we could not find a picture of Bernt Wackels and his smug sailor’s hat, we found a picture of a young Karen Horney, her two daughters, and the asshole she married, Oskar. We’re glad she left him.
She left him, not only because he was insufferable, but because she was on to bigger and better things. Dr. Horney published many books and journals.
Her biggest concern was the field of Neurosis. How it manifested in people, what it looked like, what would cause it. She would focus on it and how it developed from early childhood. But not just in children and in men…
…but in women as well. Throughout her career, Horney would publish countless articles and papers on women and the specific issues they went through, like motherhood. She dissected the relationship between man and wife and asserted that it was very much like a parent-child relationship, as the woman was dependent solely on her husband. She even countered Freud’s penis envy with something revolutionary: womb envy from men who could never bear children. Horney applied a humanistic way to the human psyche, instead of a completely sex-obsessed one.
She was over the obsession of dicks. And honestly, we are too.
Lee Krasner
Lee Krasner has been described as a lot of things – ugly, a bitch, a sharp businesswoman, a major figure in the American Abstract Expressionism movement – but she’s unfortunately most well known as Mrs. Jackson Pollock.
For most people, Jackson Pollock is an artist they can name, he’s a huge figure in American Modern art. Lee Krasner helped make that happen.
Lee and Jackson were together for 11 years – just over a decade is what it took for his work and death to overshadow her for years. Even today, decades after her death there’s still the challenge of presenting Lee’s work on it’s own merits. This episode we cover Lee Krasner’s art and life, and yeah, mention that guy she happened to be married to.
Selected Work
- The Feminist Mystique – When we put together a suggested reading page, this’ll def be on it – author Betty Friedan was kicking ass and calling out bullshit on sexist bullshit (albeit it the text is not unproblematic)
- Cooper Union – NYC School founded in 1859, committed to a free and open education to all, regardless of financial status
- National Academy of Design – School where Lee built on her technique and faced her first bout of systematic sexism
- Igor Pantuhoff – Fellow artist and and partner of ten years to Lee, who dumped her over a letter. What a great guy.
- George Mercer – Friend and old classmate who dished out some friendly casual sexism
- Picasso – Please. You know Picasso.
- Piet Mondrian – Just like I told Milena, he’s the Dutch painter who’s only regarded as one of THE most important artists of the 20th century – you know, the one who did the squares
- Sidney Janis – Important art collector, who Lee introduced to Jackson Pollock
- Jackson Pollock – You know, that paint splatter guy – oh and husband to Lee
- Peggy Guggenheim – A Very Important and Very Wealthy person who helped Jackson Pollock rise to fame
- Guggenheim Museum – The oldest museum in NYC, showcasing mostly modern and contemporary art
As always, music by EeL