On the eve of the Independence Day of the United States, it is impossible not to recall that the abstract art of America boasts one of the most talented artists in this genre.
Franz Kline is an American artist whose works belong to the style of abstract expressionism. Born to immigrants from Germany and England, he grew up in a small mining town in Pennsylvania. Kline studied painting at Boston University and at the School of Fine Arts in London. In his early period of creativity, he was guided by the artworks of the Dutch artist Rembrandt and the French impressionist Manet. Therefore the early works are mostly landscapes and portraits, which he often painted to order.
The painting "Hot Jazz" ( 1940) created for one of the New York bars, became the starting point for the master. The canvas itself, despite the indistinctly traced figures of people and interior details, conveys the main thing: the incendiary atmosphere of jazz and its freedom. The playfulness and elegance of the soloist lures the viewer and plunges into the harmony of rhythm and energy.
Hot Jazz
From the 1940s, after meeting Willem de Kooning, Kline gradually turned to abstract painting. Post-war New York, which survived the urban upheaval, could not but excite the imagination of the master. Labyrinths of stairs, unfinished massive structures, railway rails - all these boundless dark silhouettes of a big city go beyond the edges of the canvas, as if dragging you into perspectives still hidden by fog.
Kline's style, known as action painting, gave complete freedom to the creative impulses of the artist and made the process of painting more important than the work itself. Kline's spontaneous painting may seem instinctive or impulsive in its dramatic, extemporaneous strokes, but it is in fact meticulously crafted. Both the broad and quick strokes of both impregnated and thinned paint are the result of considerable thought and include numerous curly references to various images as well as calligraphy.
The artist was able to form unique “breaking” images, inspired by dilapidated or unfinished buildings, bridges, scaffolding, and at the same time limited himself to only three colors - white, black and gray.
New York, 1953
Untitled
Cardinal, 1950
Kline had his first solo exhibition in New York in 1950 and quickly achieved recognition as the prominent representative of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. Most of his works are monochrome, such as his most famous paintings: "Chief", "White Forms", "Mahoning", "Black Reflections". Along with the greatest artists in the gestural abstract painting genre, such as Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb and Willem De Kooning, Franz Kline will forever remain an icon of American art. Today, his paintings fetch millions of dollars at auctions.
Do you share our passion for works of art by Franz Kline? In TrendGallery, you can order a painting in his style, which inspires our artists, and make your space unique by choosing the color scheme that perfectly matches your interior:
Do you share our passion for artworks by Franz Kline? In TrendGallery, you can order a painting in his style, which inspires our artists, and make your space unique by choosing the colors that perfectly match your interior.
