FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)
FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)
FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)
FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)
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Property from the Collection of Louise and Donald Aberfeld
FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)

The Dancer

Details
FRANZ KLINE (1910-1962)
The Dancer
signed twice and dated ‘KLINE Franz Kline 46’ (lower left); signed again with the artist's monogram and dated again 'FK 46' (on the reverse)
oil on Masonite
22 ¼ x 10 ¼ in. (55.5 x 26 cm.)
Painted in 1946.
Provenance
John Sheehan, New York
Dr. and Mrs. Theodore J. Edlich, Jr., New York, 1957
Anon. sale; Christie's, New York, 16 May 1980, lot 37
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Literature
H. Gaugh, "Kline's Transitional Abstractions, 1946-1950," Art in America, vol. 62, no. 4, July-August 1974, pp. 44-45 (illustrated).
Franz Kline: The Color Abstractions, exh. cat., Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, 1979, p. 32.
D. Anfam, Abstract Expressionism, London, 1990, pp. 111 and 113, fig. 81 (study illustrated).
A. Kingsley, The Turning Point, New York, 1992, p. 280.
Franz Kline: Black & White, 1950-1961, exh. cat., Houston, The Menil Collection, 1994, pp. 22 and 116.
Franz Kline: Art and the Structure of Identity, exh. cat., Barcelona, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, 1994, pp. 170, 188 and 190.
P. Byers and S. Bourgoin, eds., Encyclopedia of World Biography, Second Edition, Volume 9, Detroit, 1998, p. 55.
Franz Kline: 1910-1962, exh. cat., Turin, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, 2004, pp. 50, 362, 365, 369, 375 and 380.
P. Coleman, ed., The Art of Music, New Haven and London, 2015, p. 51.
R. Finsel and J. Finsel, Franz Kline in Coal Country, Atglen, 2019, pp. 126-127.
C. Rogge, Franz Kline: The Artist's Materials, Los Angeles, 2022, pp. 29, 31 and 131.
Exhibited
Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, Continuity and Change: 45 American Abstract Painters and Sculptors, April-May 1962, pp. 4 and 22, no. 59.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Franz Kline: 1910-1962, October 1968-May 1969, pp. 10 and 25, no. 23, fig. 19 (illustrated).
Binghamton, State University of New York and Purchase, Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Franz Kline: The Early Works as Signals, March-November 1977, p. 48, no. 53 (illustrated).
Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art, Art & Dance, November 1982-January 1983.
Cincinnati Art Museum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Vital Gesture: Franz Kline in Retrospect, November 1985-June 1986, pp. 74-75, 79 and 81, no. 69 (illustrated).

Brought to you by

Rachel Ng
Rachel Ng Associate Specialist, Acting Head of Sale, Post-War to Present

Lot Essay

"The term 'abstract' had a wide range of meanings for Kline...during the 1950s he singled out The Dancer, 1946, as his earliest abstract painting. Although more abstract than Elizabeth, The Dancer still has a hold on figurative imagery. A leg, knee to foot, may easily be identified at the lower right. Yet relationships among the few value contrasts, the articulation of the planes and the interplay between mass and space fail to coalesce. In The Dancer representation and abstraction play hide-and-seek, but neither wins" (H. Gaugh, "Kline's Transitional Abstractions, 1946-1950," Art in America, vol. 62, no. 4, July-August 1974, p. 44).

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