Franz Kline was born in 1910 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He is one of the leading painters of abstract expressionism.

He is famous for his paintings drawn by action painting with dynamic strokes. He studied at Boston University from 1931 to 1935 and studied abroad at Heatherley School ig Fine Art in London for a year from 1937. He then continued to produce his work while working in New York as a department store decoration designer.  He was in an informal group, New York School with painters, poets, musicians and dancers who wereactive in New York in the 1950s to 1960s with Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and others. In the 1950s he established a caligraphic style with black and white lines.

 

"New York, NY" is typical of Klein's urban abstraction. The powerful and dynamic lines and their composition accurately convey the energy of the city where Klein himself has lived for over 20 years. The black line does not create a shape against the mortar color of the canvas, but the white part resists and gives the shape to black. Black and white have the same power and act on each other to form a solid screen.

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Deceased in 1962 in New York.