The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 30, 2023

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

© The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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

Inscription

verso of secondary support, signed, across top, in black ink: franz kline

Inscription

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
Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review 1961." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 9 (1961) www.jstor.org
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
Klee, Paul, Pavel Tchelitchew, Franz Kline, and Louise S. Richards. "Three Contemporary Drawings." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 3 (1962) www.jstor.org
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 (organizer) (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, Cleveland, OH (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 (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, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998).

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

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.134