Lot 47 | FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)
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FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)
Untitled
signed and dated 53 on the reverse
oil on canvas
54 by 28in. 137.2 by 71.1cm.
PROVENANCE
Egan Gallery, New York
Untitled is a commanding abstraction, highly characteristic of Kline's early black and white paintings. Bold, expressive brushwork commands the surface, as broad swaths of paint cut angular paths through the chalky white field. Like an atonal symphony, the painting is composed with a certain asymmetry. Its thrusting diagonals collide abruptly in a muscular rhythm that intimates Kline's environment, the rough, cacophonous cityscape.
Working within the traditional rectangular format, Kline ruthlessly opens its edges. His forceful brushstrokes defy the rectangle, much like Mondrian's late compositions which, although of a more delicate sensibility, are similarly jazzed by the energy of the metropolis. Kline's sophisticated black and white palette brings fresh elegance to painting in the 1950s, perfectly embodied by this
classic abstraction.
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