Franz Kline
Franz Kline was one of the early leaders of abstract expressionism. Born in coal-mining country in Pennsylvania in 1910, Kline studied at Boston University and then went to London, in 1937, to study at the Heatherley School of Art. He settled in New York City, in 1939, and began painting cityscapes and landscapes. To earn extra money, Kline painted murals in bars. Kline had a small group of loyal patrons for whom he created portraits, but throughout the 1940s he began expanding into non-representational work. This was surely prompted by his friendship with Willem de Kooning, who would continue to influence his work throughout Kline's life. de Kooning showed him how to use a Bell Opticon projector to enlarge his sketches, opening his eyes to the large abstract forms that materialized. Kline worked in large-scale black and white painting mostly during the rest of the 1940s, and his work became well known, as well expensive. His first solo show was in 1950 at the Charles Egan Gallery. By 1952, MOMA had purchased his work titled Chief, and the Whitney Museum followed by purchasing his work Mahoning in 1955. Kline taught at Black Mountain College, as well as at the Pratt Institute. Kline died in 1962 of a heart ailment.
