Photo By Gail

Ukrainian-born artist Peter Krasnow (1886 – 1979) worked mostly in Southern California from 1922 onward, becoming  an important advocate of modernism in Los Angeles. During the final years of World War II, he began a series of abstract paintings featuring interlocking rectilinear forms in candy-colored hues.

Conceived in response to the horrors of war, paintings such as  K3 (1945) were intended to invoke harmony and optimism. “Between alerts, blackouts and rationing, brighter grew my palette,” the artist remarked. “When tragedy was at its deepest point, my paintings breathed joy and light — color structures instead of battle scenes, symmetry to repair broken worlds. A means of protest to ease the pain.”

Photographed at the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles