Franz Kline developed a groundbreaking abstract vernacular while working in the 1950s, where his large, gestural swathes of black transcended the limits of a single human brushstroke. Conceived in his house and studio on East 10th Street, part of a Lower East Side artistic enclave with Abstract Expressionists Willem de Kooning and Philip Guston working in close proximity, Mister, 1959, comes from the height of Kline’s most revered period. A triumphant stage of his artistic evolution, the 1950s witnessed the dynamic juxtaposition of black and white, the basic chromatic components that have come to describe his legacy. Mister, 1959, comes from the illustrious collection of Mrs. John L. Marion
Auctions and Exhibitions
The Power and Presence of Franz Kline’s Gestural Abstraction
New York | 12 May
