Untitled
1940s-1950s
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gouache and brush and black ink on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 27.9 x 21.6 cm (11 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
1998.113.7
Art Historical Context
Franz Kline's *Untitled* (1940s-1950s) is a dynamic drawing on wove paper, measuring a intimate 27.9 x 21.6 cm. Created with gouache—an opaque watercolor—and bold brushkes of black ink, exemplifies Kline's gestural technique during his pivotal transition from figurative to abstract art. Wove paper, prized for its smooth surface, allowed the ink to flow freely, capturing spontaneous, calligraphic marks that pulse with energy. As a key figure in Abstract Expressionism, Kline emerged in New York's vibrant postwar art scene alongside peers like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. This work fro...
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...