Kufic

Loops and sweeping curves tangle across this large canvas, all painted in warm earth tones of ochre and amber. Lee Krasner made "Kufic" in 1965, and the title points straight to her inspiration. Kufic is one of the oldest forms of Arabic calligraphy, prized for its bold, angular letters. Krasner wasn't spelling out real words, but her strokes carry the rhythm of writing, a kind of private script that belongs entirely to her.

As a central artist in Abstract Expressionism, Krasner belonged to the American movement known for large, emotional, gesture-filled paintings. Her marriage to Jackson Pollock meant that for a long stretch her own work was pushed into the background by his enormous fame. She refused to stop, though, and after his death in 1956 she kept building on her ideas. Pieces like this one reveal an artist fully sure of what she wanted to say. The muted, almost single-color palette lends the whole work a quiet, meditative mood, even as the brushwork swirls with energy.

The real pull of this painting lies in the tension between control and freedom. Every mark looks spontaneous, yet nothing feels accidental. The motion of her arm reads in each curving line, as if a dance had been paused right on the surface. Your eye keeps drifting across the knot of shapes, never settling in one place, and that wandering is part of the pleasure.