Modern life creates new shapes that excite the formal research of the photographers. Franz Kline is close to them but he is a draftsman and a painter. He takes many sketches of the industrial structures of New York City and of his native Pennsylvania : beams of bridges, pylons, derricks.
At first this leads to nothing. Elaine de Kooning narrated the click. In 1948 Willem projects on a wall the image of a chair made by Franz. With the poor episcope of that time the geometry is jostled and the lines are bogged down. Franz is thrilled by this abstract projection of his ordinary figurative drawing.
Franz is neither a theoretician nor a surrealist. The lines of his projection compose a two-dimensional space to which an apparent impulse brings a three-dimensional illusion. Franz's painstaking work should not have been equated with the spontaneity of the Action painting of which he is often considered a leader. The rhythm of jazz is a fantasy that sometimes fits into his own style. On the other hand the jagged edges of his stripes bring him closer to Still and Rothko.
His paintings become monumental. An Untitled 200 x 280 cm painted in 1957 was sold for $ 40.4M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 21 B Light Mechanic, oil on canvas 234 x 172 cm painted in 1960. The worn beams in deep black of his abstract mechanics are underlined by a subtle light gray projection that could have to be generated by the old episcope on another screen further away.
SOLD for $ 20M including premium
At first this leads to nothing. Elaine de Kooning narrated the click. In 1948 Willem projects on a wall the image of a chair made by Franz. With the poor episcope of that time the geometry is jostled and the lines are bogged down. Franz is thrilled by this abstract projection of his ordinary figurative drawing.
Franz is neither a theoretician nor a surrealist. The lines of his projection compose a two-dimensional space to which an apparent impulse brings a three-dimensional illusion. Franz's painstaking work should not have been equated with the spontaneity of the Action painting of which he is often considered a leader. The rhythm of jazz is a fantasy that sometimes fits into his own style. On the other hand the jagged edges of his stripes bring him closer to Still and Rothko.
His paintings become monumental. An Untitled 200 x 280 cm painted in 1957 was sold for $ 40.4M including premium by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 21 B Light Mechanic, oil on canvas 234 x 172 cm painted in 1960. The worn beams in deep black of his abstract mechanics are underlined by a subtle light gray projection that could have to be generated by the old episcope on another screen further away.
SOLD for $ 20M including premium
News: This 8-foot-tall Franz Kline (estimated at $20 mil) is heading to #auction in Nov #AbEx #art #eppler #NYC @ChristiesInc #artmarket pic.twitter.com/ETr12mhcHa
— Katya Kazakina (@artdetective) September 27, 2017
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