1. Franz Kline

2. Franz Kline ( )
American artist named after Austrian Emperor by his father who was of German descent.
When Kline was seven years old, his father committed suicide.
Had an accident in high school which took him out of sport  he took to art (mostly illustration/cartooning)
Met De Kooning in 1943 and the two became friends.
Early years marked by poverty. Wife institutionalised in 1948 and their marriage ended.
Kline was of the second generation of A.E. artists, but was friends with them. Associated himself with the ‘Beat Generation’, friends with Jack Kerouac.
Around 1948 Kline enlarged one of his drawings with a projector (lent to him by De Kooning), and, realizing the potential of these black strokes of paint, changed his style of painting from figurative to abstract.
In the 1950’s he began to paint solely in black and white and gained artistic recognition for these works which reveal the painter’s gestures as he created the artwork.

3. Franz Kline: Chief (1950) Oil on canvas, 148 x 186 cm.

4. Franz Kline: Chief (1950)
Underlying image is a streamlined locomotive. (Kline’s stepfather was a railway employee).
Tough, masculine thrust present in every scraped surface and bruising brushstroke.
A reality created here is one of blunt, dazing immediacy. A personal experience is suggested –the kind that one doesn’t pay attention to.
Large black and white compositions have been likened to Oriental calligraphy, though he denied any connection.
His work seemingly reflects rapid and vigorous execution, likewise seen in paintings of Pollock and De Kooninng; however, Kline was actually very deliberate and purposeful in his paint application.
Rarely would he execute paintings in one sitting. The motion with which the paint is applied is controlled and channelled.
A curious sense of threat in the spreading black shapes.

5. Kline began at the bottom of the art world and worked himself up
Kline began at the bottom of the art world and worked himself up. His early murals often depicted urban views, largely New York. This would have a lasting effect on his later works.
Franz Kline: New York (1953) Oil on canvas x cm

6. Kline, Franz: Painting Number 2 (1954)
Kline said of projecting his work onto his canvas, “A four by five inch black drawing of a rocking chair…loomed in gigantic black stokes which eradicated any image, the strokes expanding as entities in themselves, unrelated to any entity but that of their own experience.”
Kline, Franz: Painting Number 2 (1954)
Oil on canvas, x cm

7. Franz Kline: Black and White (1954)

8. Franz Kline: Vawdavitch (1955)

9. Kline, Franz, Vawdavitch, 1955, Oil on canvas, 200 x 158.5 cm
Brushstrokes are visibly large and energetic.
Vertical, horizontal and diagonal slashes give the painting a feeling of movement and dynamism.
Looks spontaneous and quickly executed, however it has been applied in a very deliberate and purposeful manner.
Careful re-working gives the painting a sense of depth, as in some places the white appears to mistily cover the receding black –suggesting some sort of structure.
Black and white have both been painted.
Careful balance between positive/negative space.

10. Franz Kline: Meryon  (1960-1) Oil on canvas 2.4 x 2.0 metres

11. Franz Kline: C and O (1958) 77 x 110 inches , Oil on canvas
Although best known for his black and white paintings, in his last works renewed his interest in colour.

12. Franz Kline: Orange Outline (1955) 96 x 106 cm Oil on paperboard, mounted on canvas.

13. Franz Kline Orange Outline, 1955
Each of his paintings is a clamorous construction site, built stroke by stroke, revised and reworked. In Orange Outline, the seemingly haphazard swaths of tar-black paint suggest an iron truss spanning and shoring the composition.
The painting barely contains the energies of its making. Furthermore, it gains a gritty honesty by the deliberate, blatant roughness of its execution and the poverty of materials: cheap, commercial house paint slathered on a flimsy sheet of paperboard.
Kline insisted his most successful paintings were visual responses to a specific emotional state. Describing his images as "painting experiences," he explained, "I don't decide in advance that I’m going to paint a definite experience, but in the act of painting, it becomes a genuine experience for me".

14. FRANZ KLINE
Like Pollock and De Kooning his work reflects a rapid and vigorous execution.
Bold directional marks have a strong architectural sense.
Associations with:
Japanese Art Oriental calligraphy
Practiced spontaneity
Inspiration:
Railroads and rocky landscape of his native Pennsylvania.
Urban landscape of New York
Makes adjustments and modifications in order to achieve the perfect balance.
Essential conflict of Kline’s work:
Black vs. White Depth vs. flatness Vitality vs. restraint