Franz Kline , one of the most prominent influential American Artists, a master of
Abstract Expressionism movement. He eventually resorted to cubist such as "the dancer, 1946 " and abstract
style after the World War II , By the end of the (1940s) Kline moved from
figurative to abstract which it called "action art". The idea seems
to have come to him by chance when he was drawn one of his sketches into a wall;
it was an up-down drawing of a "chair ", he gave it the name of " chief " .Actually, some of his
paintings are influenced by Japanese and cubism art. His artwork mostly
represented in" black and white", he was trying during (1956-1961) to
introduce color into his simple painting such as" Black Reflections"
painting, but he preferred the prior colors.
Red Clown 1947
The Dancer 1946
The Bridge 1951
Black Reflections 1959
Oil and Pasted on paper ,Metropolitan Museum of Art
Kline's style is known as gestural abstraction; it means that the
artist draws a harsh rather sharp and deep black line which leaves large bold
brushstrokes, and gives the black space its sense, without figures. The color
in this paintings characterized by flat fields of symbolic color, created by
some artists like, Rothko and Newman ,an American action painters within Franz
Kline, they are concentrated on the total of decisions and actions that made by
the artist, not on the work itself.The important point of using the" black color" in Kline's
painting and his way of working of
mixing it with the "white color "background it to give a relation of the form.
This quote might aid your understanding and appreciation of abstract expressionism. “At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act — rather than as a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyse, or ‘express’ an object, actual or imagined. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.” - Harold Rosenberg .
Abstract Expressionism movement , a modernist style of art that
shifted the world’s attention to New York City based on the more or less spontaneous expression in abstract design of
the artist’s psychic states.This movement attracted many famous artists through its goals, which aim to save the artists and the art itself by giving them freedom of expression and criticism witch raise awareness in the time separating it between the white and black, this movement aimed to change this concept, express their concerns that Lies in the crisis of war and its aftermath in a simple way away from the violence and negative, thus emerged as a global superpower, where the flow of painters from different parts of Europe on their way to America where individual liberty and economic.
Rosenberg said, “The liberation from Paris as the center of the art world resulted not in the establishment of an American art or genre, but rather the end of a need for one,” (Balken p.75).The artists in this movement effected by the social and political context, which the abstract expressionist came about, was highly influential to the artists of that time, and a familiarity with that context is deeply informative to the viewer.
White Forms 1955
Oil on Canvas 6 ft 2 3/8 in x 50 ¼ in
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Black, White, and Gray, 1959
Palladio ,1961
Oil on Canvas 266.1 x 193.7 cm
Joining The selected group of abstract artists helped Kline to be free and active and gives him a chance to express himself and translate his thoughts and emotions from the place that he lived and achieved the pure painted in large space to create a physical engagement with the viewer using his special method of create abstract paintings. The majesty of Kline's painting showed on controlled and balanced in the positive and negative in such large dimensions by the white areas with illustrated black strokes, Such as," Mahoning" (1956) painting.
Mahoning | 1956
Oil and paper collage on canvas. 80 x 100 in
Became a master of Expressionism period came out of large amount of exhibitions and events, he worked with selection of known painters such as, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and he got influenced and inspired by their painting methods. He mastered the new style, producing such masterpieces as Nijinsky (Petrushka) (c. 1950) almost immediately.( from Encyclopedia Britannica).
One of his social events was His first exhibition was in New York (1950) at the Egan Gallery, where the one of his most impressive paintings " chief ", "clock face "and "the drum" paintings took place, this painting passed on hard pure oil colors which it "white and black", in general each gallery on this movement was controlled the abstract expressionism environment by using the large size canvases .This leave the modest size and precision rather understanding the brash stroke in its parallels weaving. (Gibson, 1997)
Nijinsky
American, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 1910–1962 New York City
One of his social events was His first exhibition was in New York (1950) at the Egan Gallery, where the one of his most impressive paintings " chief ", "clock face "and "the drum" paintings took place, this painting passed on hard pure oil colors which it "white and black", in general each gallery on this movement was controlled the abstract expressionism environment by using the large size canvases .This leave the modest size and precision rather understanding the brash stroke in its parallels weaving. (Gibson, 1997)
Chief 1950
Oil on canvas, 58 3/8" x 6' 1 1/2" (148.3 x 186.7 cm)
Kline achieves his work year after year; he met and got influenced by new great artists that exhibit his work with them. during his life he Joined many exhibitions , started from (1950) Egan gallery ,then he moved in (1951) together with john Ferren and Conrad Marca-Relli, to organize the famous "ninth street show " held at 60 east 9th street with works by among others , de kooning ,Pollock ,Hans Hoffman, jack tworkov, Ad Reinhardt; Robert Motherwell. Kline also designed the poster for this artist-run show. In (1952), he exhibited his work on "Margaret brown gallery", Boston in November 17-december 6, he also was selected by Leo castelli for " American vanguard art for Paris exhibition " a show held at Sidney Janis gallery and subsequently at galleries de France in Paris, which confirmed his status as one of the major new figures in the abstract expressionist movement
From (1952) his work was included in every edition of the Carnegie international in Pittsburgh. In (1959) He also including "the new decade":35amirican painters and sculptors "at the Whitney museum of American art, new York (1955) and "12 Americans" at the museum of modern art, new York (1956), his works were also introduced to international audiences through numerous travelling exhibitions of American art, organized by museums including the international council of the museum of modern art, the Solomon r. Guggenheim museum. He participated in the Venice biennale of (1956 and 1960) and in the second edition of documenta in Kassel in (1959). (rivoli.castellodi, (2004).p: 306)
They said:"To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is critical. (New York Times - 1943).Throw this saying; the closer you are the more of understanding the symbolic non-objective world of Kline's painting, which leads us to imagine his massages and thoughts. All of his exhibitions have a creative touch to create a new world not creating a new art.
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Bibliography
- Sylvester, David (2001).about modern art, UK: Pemlico
- harry, f.g. (1996).Franz Kline. New York .London : Cincinnati art museum ,Abbeville press.
- rivoli.castellodi (2004).Franz Kline (1910-1962).Italy: shira editor s.p.a .
- Gibson,a (1997).abstract expressionism. New haven, London: Yale university press.
- (1999).twentieth-century American art .washington: harry
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