Kline, Franz

Kline, Franz (1910–1962). American painter, generally considered one of the most individual of the Abstract Expressionists. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, of immigrant parents—a German father and an English mother. After studying art at Boston University, 1931–5, he set off for Paris in 1937 but got no further than London, where he continued his studies at Heatherley's School of Art, 1937–8. On his return to the USA he settled permanently in New York in 1939. His early work was representational, including urban landscapes and commissioned portraits, but he turned to abstraction at the end of the 1940s. This change of direction reflected the influence of Willem de Kooning (whom he met in 1943), but the most important factor in his ‘conversion’ was seeing some of his own quick sketches enlarged by a projector, an experience that made him realize their potential as abstract compositions. Elaine de Kooning commented that Kline was amazed at what he saw: ‘A four by five inch brush drawing of the rocking chair … loomed in gigantic black 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.’

Once he had embarked on his new path, Kline very quickly developed a highly personal style of expressive abstraction, converting the brushstrokes of his drawings into large-scale abstract paintings, using bold black patterns on a white ground in a manner reminiscent of oriental calligraphy but with a distinctive rough vigour (he used commercial paints and house-painters' brushes, sometimes up to eight inches wide). He had his first one-man show at the Charles Egan Gallery, New York, in 1950 and made a strong impression, particularly with Chief (MOMA, New York, 1950). After this his reputation grew rapidly. Kline referred to his works as ‘painting experiences. 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 … I'm not painting bridge constructions, sky scrapers or laundry tickets.’ However, some of his paintings do allude to memories of the industrial part of Pennsylvania where he grew up; the titles of several of them (including Chief) are taken from the names of railway engines, and his dense blacks evoke a feeling of coal country. Towards the end of his life he sometimes used vivid colours, but for the most part he remained loyal to his characteristic black-and-white style. He died of heart disease.