FRANZ KLINE BLACK & WHITE 1950-1961
David Anfam

[Franz Kline] Anfam, David (essay): FRANZ KLINE BLACK & WHITE 1950-1961. Houston: The Menil Collection and the Houston Fine Art Press, 1994. First edition. A Fine hardcover Book in a Fine Dust Jacket. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print.

11 x 10.5 book bound in full stamped cloth with 120 pages and 85 illustrations (66 in color). Published in conjunction with an exhibit that originated at the Menil Collection from September 8, 1994 to November 27, 1994. A beautiful book printed in Germany that has set the standard for reproduction quality for Klines' work.

Franz Kline met Willem de Kooning at Conrad Marca-Rellišs studio in 1943. Soon thereafter, he also met Jackson Pollock. Klinešs interest in Japanese art began at this time. His mature abstract style, developed in the late 1940s, is characterized by bold gestural strokes of fast-drying black and white enamel. His first solo exhibition was held at the Egan Gallery, New York, in 1950. From the early 1950s, Kline exhibited large canvases of dynamically painted black-and-white grids. His works often recall Chinese calligraphy but he himself denied Asian influence. Soon after, he was recognized as a major figure in the emerging Abstract Expressionist movement. Although Kline was best-known for his black-and-white paintings, he also worked extensively in color, from the mid-1950s to the end of his life.

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