Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=D08CC6729F8CC4E9828612601D73357B15F65A4617C615B317050E1EBE43B477&s=21&se=1792489498&v=3&f=1961.134_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=5545B0B8F3DD749DEBD7D065C06C6B1B90F3376EF0CACBC9896A59DB0ECDCE5E&s=21&se=1792489498&v=1&f=%5C1961.134_o2.jpg

Alternate Views

Black and White

1954

Franz Kline

(American, 1910-1962)

America, 20th century

Oil on yellow-beige wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper

Support: Yellow-beige wove paper, laid down on cream(3) wove paper (discolored)

Sheet: 31.7 x 25.2 cm (12 1/2 x 9 15/16 in.); Secondary Support: 32.4 x 26 cm (12 3/4 x 10 1/4 in.)

Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1961.134

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Kline often worked with cheap, plentiful paper, such as telephone pages.

Description

Known for his abstract paintings of bold interlocking forms in black and white paint, Franz Kline made many drawings, using the medium to work out his ideas quickly. Once he discovered a compelling image through this process. he worked directly from it to create a painting. This sheet does not directly correspond to a canvas, although it is generally related to a work from 1961. Its title was probably assigned by the artist's gallery, as he typically left his works untitled.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed, lower right, in graphite: kline; verso of secondary support, signed, across top, in black ink: franz kline; by artist, center left, in black ink: [arrow] / Top [underlined]

Provenance

after 1954-by 1957

(Sidney Janis Gallery, New York)

after 1957-1961

(Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1961-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Richards, Louise S. "Three Contemporary Drawings." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 3 (March 1962): 55-59. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 58-59

Henning, E.B. "Two New Contemporary Sculptures." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54 (September 1967): 219-227. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 223

Henning, E.B. "Some Modern Paintings: Franz Kline Accent Grave." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56 (February 1969): 62-68. Mentioned: p. 62; Reproduced: p. 63

Twentieth-Century American Drawing: Three Avant-Garde Generations. Exh. Cat. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1976. Mentioned: p. 73, no. 116

Meder, Joseph. The Mastery of Drawings. Vol. 2. New York: Abaris Books, 1978. Mentioned: p. 302; Reproduced: pl. 309

Gaugh, Harry F. The Vital Gesture: Franz Kline in Retrospect. Exh. Cat. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum, 1985. Mentioned: p. 160; Reproduced: pl. 160

Wechsler, Jeffrey. Abstract Expressionism: Other Dimensions. Exh. Cat. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1989. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 45, no. 53

DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 272-273, p. 298; Reproduced: p. 273

Exhibition history

Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 1-26, 1961).

Twentieth-Century American Drawing: Three Avant-Garde Generations. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (January 23-March 21, 1976).

Brush Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (March 3-May 10, 1981).

America Draws. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1984-March 17, 1985).

The Vital Gesture: Franz Kline in Retrospect. The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1985-March 2, 1986); Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Museum of American Art, Philadelphia, PA (June 26-September 28, 1986).

Abstract Expressionism: Other Dimensions. Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL (January 23-March 11, 1990); Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ (organizer) (March 25-June 13, 1990).

Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).

American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Black and White|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1961.134|author=Franz Kline|year=1954|access-date=25 February 2020|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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