Abstract Composition Franz Kline

• A rare, striking work of Abstract Expressionism with an important provenance • Formerly in the collection of the Milanese publisher Giorgio Mondadori • Works by Franz Kline are held in major museum collections of Abstract Expressionism worldwide This striking work on paper by Franz Kline embodies everything that defines the oeuvre of this important Abstract Expressionist through the condensation of physical gesture and space, as well as the stark black-and-white contrast. Wide bands of colour are applied from the edge of the picture onto an equally prominent white background. The composition is the result of a painting technique involving layer upon layer of colour, a style that also characterises his large-format canvas works. Kline frequently prepared these in smaller works on paper, such as the one presented here. Kline has been using black and white as a concise contrast of forces since 1949. In the 1950s and 1960s, the legendary Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome was the first in Europe to stage solo exhibitions by Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly, thus becoming a meeting place for the American avant-garde and a magnet for collectors of contemporary art in Europe. When Franz Kline died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1962 at the age of just 51, the Marlborough Galleria d’Arte in Rome took over the artist’s modest estate. It was there that the well-known Milanese publisher Giorgio Mondadori purchased this particularly characteristic tempera painting in 1972. | 1910 Wilkes-Barre – New York 1962 | Zeitgenössische Kunst | Gemälde | Nummer: 26x2188 | Provenance: Galleria La Tartaruga, Rom, verso mit dem Etikett; Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rom, verso mit dem Etikett; Sammlung Giorgio Mondadori, Mailand, 1972 bei Vorgenannter erworben; Privatsammlung, Lugano, von Vorgenannter erworben; Privatsammlung, Mailand.

Estimate:$31,436.30

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