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Painting

A work made of oil on canvas.
© 2018 The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

1952

Artist:

Franz Kline
American, 1910-1962

About this artwork

Until the early 1940s, Franz Kline painted realistic landscapes, portraits, and cityscapes that were inspired by the textures and forms of New York City. Around 1949 he began to make black-and-white canvases such as Painting, which, while abstract, continue to suggest the invigorating energy of urban street life. The artist’s preparation for his paintings included making numerous sketches on newspaper or telephone-book pages. He then translated a small-scale drawing onto canvas, as, what he called, “strokes expanding as entities in themselves.” Utilizing housepainters’ brushes, Kline tacked his canvases to a wood panel in order to obtain the hard surface that he needed to paint his world of eternally colliding forces. Though the many visible drip marks imply a quick, spontaneous execution, the artist returned to this work several times over a two-month period to refine and strengthen its rhythm and spacing.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Franz Kline

Title

Painting

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1952

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

195.6 × 254 cm (77 × 100 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Sigmund E. Edelstone

Reference Number

1984.521

Copyright

© 2018 The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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