Corrine Michele West was born in Ohio. She attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before moving to the Cincinnati Art Academy in 1925. West graduated from the Cincinnati Art Academy in 1930. West moved to New York in 1932 and she was Arshile Gorky's muse and probably his lover, although she refused to marry him when he proposed several times. West studied under Hofmann, however in 1934, West began studying under Raphael Soyer. In 1936, she had her first solo exhibition, at the Rochester Art Club. Also, in 1936, she had begun to go by Mikael to obtain better opportunities, and after Arshile Gorky told her that the name "Corinne" sounded like that of a "debutante's daughter." Gorky suggestion however, is based on a real prejudice against women in the art world. In 1941, she began to use the name Michael, which she used in her regular life as well as her painting. West was married briefly to Randolph Nelson in the 1930s, and in 1948 she married filmmaker Francis Lee, but they divorced in 1960. West was also intimately involved with Richard Pousette-Dart as well.

West exhibited in Manhattan's prestigious Stable Gallery in 1953 and had a solo show in 1957 at the Uptown Gallery in New York City. In 1958, she had a one-woman show at the Domino Gallery in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. West also wrote poems; she wrote a series of 50 poems in the 1940s, including the poem, The New Art in 1942.
The first major West Coast exhibit of her work was held posthumously at Art Resource Group's Newport Beach, California gallery in 2010. Michael Corrine West is an extremely important female artist who was also a member of the Club. West’s works are in the collection of the Whitney Museum and has been exhibited at the Pollock-Krasner House.