Figure at a Table
c. 1947
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
oil paint on paperboard
Dimensions
overall (irregular): 21.6 x 21.6 cm (8 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Rufus F. Zogbaum
Accession Number
1998.113.10
Art Historical Context
**Figure at a Table** by Franz Kline, created around 1947, invites visitors into the intimate world of the artist's early experimentation. This small, square oil painting on paperboard—measuring just 8½ x 8½ inches—blurs the line between painting and drawing, classified as the latter in the National Gallery Art's collection. Donated by Rufus F. Zogbaum, it captures a solitary figure seated at a table, rendered with Kline's characteristic bold contours and a sense of immediacy. Kline, a key figure in Abstract Expressionism, was transitioning from figurative subjects in the post-World War II er...
About the Artist
Franz Kline
Franz Kline (1910–1962) was born on May 23 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a gritty coal-mining town in the heart of the state's industrial region. His early life was marked by tragedy: at age seven, his father, a saloon keeper, died by suicide, prompting his mother to remarry and enroll him in Girard College, a Philadelphia academy for fatherless boys. Kline later attended Lehighton High School, w...