Biografie von Franz KLINE (1910-1962)

Birth place: Wilkes-Barre, PA

Death place: NYC

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Abstract painter

Studied: Girard College, Phila.; Boston Univ., 1931-35; London, 1937-38.

Exhibited: Egan Gal., NYC, 1950 (first solo); WMAA, 1952-61; Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1955, 1961; MoMA; AIC, 1957 (prize); Wildenstein Gal., NY; S„o Paolo, Brazil; Brussels World's Fair, 1958; S. Janis Gal., NYC, 1961 (last solo); Solomon Guggenheim Mus.; Cincinnati AM and PAFA (retrospective) 1986

Member: Woodstock AA

Work: NGA; NMAA; MoMA; WMAA; MMA; AIC; PMA; Phillips Coll., Wash., DC; Rockefeller Inst., NYC; Albright Art Gal.; CI; Guggenheim Mus.; BMA; LAMCA; CMA; Munson-Williams Proctor Inst., Utica, NY; Mus. FA, Houston; North Carolina Mus. of Art; Walter Chrysler Mus., Norfolk, VA; Nelson Gal., Kansas City, MO; Art Gal., Toronto; German State Mus.; Tate Gal., London; Kunstmuseum, Basel; Kunstmuseum Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Mus. Ludwig, Cologne.

Comments: An important and highly influential abstract expressionist remembered for his large, powerful, black and white paintings, c.1949-62. He was a friend of De Kooning, whose influence was instrumental in Kline's turning from representational to nonrepresentational painting around 1946, leading to his first solo show in 1950 consisting of all abstract paintings. He was active in Provincetown, MA, late 1950s-1962.

Sources: WW59; Baigell, Dictionary; Henry Gaugh, Franz Kline: The Color Abstractions (exh. cat., Phillips Coll., 1979); Provincetown Painters, 227-229.