Peter Krasnow (1886 – 1979)  Peter Krasnow was born just outside Kiev, Ukraine and moved to Chicago in 1908.  His father had been an interior decorator of sorts and had taught his son how to mix colors and make paint. 

After a period of study at the Art Institute of Chicago he moved to New York City with his wife Rose to pursue a career as an artist.  In 1922 he moved to California and worked there for the rest of his life.

Krasnow quickly established himself in the community of California modernists, including Stanton Macdonald Wright, Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg.  While his early figurative work bore the influence of Impressionists and the German realists, after 1940 his work became increasingly abstract.  Utilizing crazy quilt patterns and a mix of elegant abstraction and Pop Art, Krasnow exhibited throughout the West coast to great acclaim.

He died in Los Angeles.