Franz Kline was a celebrated member of the Abstract Expressionist group, more specifically, classified as “Gesture” or “Action” painters. “Action” painters refers not only to their style of painting, which was characterized by broad, slashing strokes that connoted energy and spontaneity, but also to their connection with existentialist philosophy which praised self-conscious action and engagement. In their work, each brushstroke or mark was seen as reflecting the direct engagement of the artists with their materials. This emphasis on spontaneous action reflected an interest in contemporary psychology’s exploration of the role of possibility and the unseen in making art.

In 1946, Kline became interested in Cubism after viewing his close friend Willem de Kooning’s black and white abstract compositions. By the late 1940s, Kline’s style evolved to reflect both Cubism and Abstract Expressionism. According to Elaine de Kooning, between 1948 and 1949, Kline enlarged one of his ink sketches in a projector and “a four by five inch brush drawing of the rocking chair…loomed in gigantic expanded strokes which eradicated any image, the strokes expanding as entities in themselves, unrelated to any reality but that of their own existence…From that day, Franz Kline’s style of painting changed completely.” (1) By 1949, Kline had reduced his palette to black and white and began focusing on the gestural abstractions for which he is best known. Kline continued to create multiple small-scale ink improvisations on scraps of paper, which were then projected and interpreted in a massive scale on canvas. Such a connection underlines the importance that drawing and small-scale ink on paper works had for Kline throughout his career.

Collections
National Gallery of Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Art Institute of Chicago
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Phillips Collection
Carnegie Institute
Albright-Knox Gallery
Guggenheim Museum
Brooklyn Museum
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Exhibitions
National Academy of Design, 1942-1945
Kootz Gallery, 1951-1957
9th Street Show, 1951
Egan Gallery, 1950-1954
Stable Gallery, 1952-1961
Whitney Museum of American Art, Annuals & Biennials, 1952 onward
Whitney Museum of American Art, “The New Decade”, 1956
Museum of Modern Art, “Twelve Americans”, 1956
Museum of Modern Art, “New American Painting”, 1961
Guggenheim Museum, “American Abstract Expressionists & Imagists”, 1962