Franz Kline is a well-known painter, member of the New York School. Although he is associated with abstract expressionism, he was an American painter who has defined his painting style. Even though now his works of art raise interpretation problems to art critiques, his style is unmistakable. The art critique domain is continuously evolving differently, as everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Franz Kline has quite a few paintings on permanent exhibition, while others travel to the world museums' galleries. Why is Franz Kline so important to art, and which is the art that defines his style? Let's find out.

The Life of Franz Kline

Franz Kline was born in a small town where the primary occupation was the coal mine factory. He was born in 1910, but at only his age of seven, his father committed suicide. Although this unfortunate event has probably affected him, his mother supported his academic pursuit. Kline studied in an academy in Philadelphia, a college chosen by his mother specially designed for children without a father.

In 1931, Franz Kline had made a significant step regarding his career as a painter. He started studying art at Boston University, and for four years, he soaked in all the information and techniques he could acquire.

Kline then moved to London to study at the Hatherley School of Fine Art to polish his skills and enlarge his knowledge. When he meets a girl that will later become his wife, during his stay in London.

Franz Kline moved back to his home country and began his artistic pursuit. He was continuously trying to find his style and teamed up with some of the most well-known painters of that time. He started painting murals or landscapes in his unique style. The Horse, Coal, and Steel, or Pennsylvania Landscape are just a few of the most famous paintings.

It is during this time that he develops his black and white unmistakable style. Willem de Kooning has suggested Kline work on a more abstract painting style, so the click quickly happened. Kline started experimenting with different brush techniques to the point that he created landscapes only by brush strokes.

His Art And Paintings

When you first search on Google Franz Kline, you'll see many black and white paintings. This is the unique style he created and is devoted to. Unlike his first expressionist paintings, the next ones become more abstract and color rarer and rarer.

Franz Kline became a painter who created something different in the same group as Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. He hated giving meaning to his artworks and is known to be an action painter. Not overthinking about how the canvas will look like but just expressing his feelings with a brush's help. This is why it makes it so tricky for nowadays art critique to interpret his works of art. Monochromatic and minimalist, they are quite different from those of his contemporaries.

Even though he later returned to color and introduced it again in his paintings, he has created some impressive monochromatic artworks. Painting No. 7, created in 1952, is one of those. Franz Kline has not used any elements similar to those used by his contemporaries, but only rigid geometry and black brush strokes.

Chief is an oil on canvas painting created in 1950 and is now exhibited in The Museum of Modern Art in New York. This might be one of the most emblematic paintings as it's seen as a landmark in interpreting his art. Chief depicted in an abstract way a locomotive Kline remembers from his childhood. What you see is more than black lines and circles on a canvas. There is the entire experience of the child Kline living in a coal mine town. Four Square, Meryon, and Probst I are other artworks emblematic of his abstract expressionist style.

Black Reflection is one of the paintings representing his first attempts to bring color back into his art. This painting and the ones that followed are closer to the ones of Hans Hofmann and Willem de Kooning.

Later Life

Kline died in 1962 but has created some wonderful and enigmatic works of art. He taught art at many institutions and committed to painting and developing his unique style. It is considered by many to be the one who started the art transition towards minimalism.

Franz Kline is an emblematic abstract expressionist painter and has shown the world how you can express your feelings using only a brush.

Author Bio: Michael Gorman is a highly skilled freelance essay writer and proofreader from the UK who currently works at dissertation writing services. Being interested in everyday development, he writes various blog posts and discovers new aspects of human existence every day. He offers college essay help on art, elements of art, or the history of art.

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