Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. ink on wove paper, Untitled 12703

2001.14.1

Recommend keywords

Help us make our collections more accessible by providing keywords to describe this artwork. The BCMA uses the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus to provide consistent keywords. Enter a keyword in the field below and you will be prompted with a list of possible matching AAT preferred terms.

Untitled

Export record as: Plain text | JSON | CDWA-Lite | VRA Core 4

Artist

Franz Kline (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1910 - 1962, New York City, New York)

Title

Untitled

Creation Date

n.d.

Century

20th century

Dimensions

12 15/16 in. x 14 in. (32.86 cm x 35.56 cm)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

ink on wove paper

Credit Line

Gift of Fred Willey, Class of 1947

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2001.14.1

Kline’s paintings, with their dynamic, gestural brushstrokes, appear immediate and spontaneous. But in fact, his works were carefully composed and the product of long hours of deliberation. This untitled ink-on-paper painting prominently shows Kline’s trademark of heavy, calligraphic brushstrokes on a light background. The bold application of paint belies a melancholy undertone. Kline avoided discussions of meaning in his works. Yet one is tempted to read the painting’s somber mood as a reflection of Kline’s struggles with depression and alcoholism. Seen as an exemplary “action painter,” Kline’s abstractions read as traces of his own body’s movement, channeling the dynamism of New York City, where the artist lived and worked.