Skip to main content

Franz Kline Paintings

American, 1910-1962
Franz Kline (1910 – 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and Lee Krasner, as well as local poets, dancers, and musicians came to be known as the informal group, the New York School. Although he explored the same innovations to painting as the other artists in this group, Kline's work is distinct in itself and has been revered since the 1950s. Kline was born in Wilkes-Barre, a small coal-mining community in Eastern Pennsylvania. He studied art at Boston University from 1931 to 1935, then spent a year at the Heatherley School of Fine Art in London where he met his future wife, Elizabeth V. Parsons, a British ballet dancer. She returned to the United States with Kline in 1938, and Kline worked as a designer for a department store in New York state. He moved to New York City in 1939 and worked for a scenic designer. It was during this time in New York that he developed his artistic techniques and gained recognition as a significant artist. He later taught at a number of institutions including Black Mountain College in North Carolina and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He spent summers from 1956 to 1962 painting in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Kline's artistic training focused on traditional illustrating and drafting. During the late 1930s and early 1940s he worked figuratively, painting landscapes and cityscapes in addition to commissioned portraits and murals. His individual style can be first seen in the mural series Hot Jazz, which he painted for a New York bar in 1940. The series revealed his interest in breaking down representative forms into quick, rudimentary brushstrokes. The personal style he developed during this time, using simplified forms, became increasingly more abstract. Many of the figures he depicted are based on the locomotives, stark landscapes, and large mechanical shapes of his native, coal-mining community in Pennsylvania. This is sometimes only apparent to viewers because the pieces are named after those places and objects, not because they actually look like the subject. With the influence of the contemporary New York art scene, Kline worked further into abstraction and eventually abandoned representationalism. From the late 1940s onward, Kline began generalizing his figurative subjects into lines and planes which fit together much like the works of Cubism of the time.
to
2
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
4
766
758
754
667
1
2
Artist: Franz Kline
Still Life
Still Life

Still Life

By Franz Kline

Located in Bryn Mawr, PA

Still Life, c. 1946 Oil on canvas, 22 x 16 1/4 in. (55.88 x 41.28 cm) Framed dimensions: 32 x 26 inches Signed lower left: artist's monogram Provenance Private Collection (acquired ...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Below South Ferry
Below South Ferry

Below South Ferry

By Franz Kline

Located in New York, NY

Signed (at lower right): KLINE EXHIBITED: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, November 1–30, 1960, The November Show, as “Moonlight in Lower Manhattan” // Pratt Institute, Brooklyn...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Related Items
Summer Sheep By Natalie Bird
Summer Sheep By Natalie Bird

Natalie BirdSummer Sheep By Natalie Bird, 2023

$170

H 5.52 in W 7.09 in D 0.4 in

Summer Sheep By Natalie Bird

By Natalie Bird

Located in Deddington, GB

original Oil on board Image size: H:14 cm x W:18 cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look Oil on board

Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Vintage American Abstract Expressionist Framed Modernist MCM Oil Painting
Vintage American Abstract Expressionist Framed Modernist MCM Oil Painting

Vintage American Abstract Expressionist Framed Modernist MCM Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Measuring: 24 by 31 inches overall, and 18 by 26 painting alone. In excellent original condition. Nicely fram...

Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Decorative Late 20th-century Still Life Painting of Hazelnuts
Decorative Late 20th-century Still Life Painting of Hazelnuts

Decorative Late 20th-century Still Life Painting of Hazelnuts

Located in San Francisco, CA

On offer is a dramatic chiaroscuro-style painting of unshelled hazelnuts spilling out of a crisp white paper cone-shaped funnel called a cornet de papier. These were used by French g...

Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Vibrant, 1960s Mid-Century Modern Abstract Oil Painting, Burning Fire (Flame)
A Vibrant, 1960s Mid-Century Modern Abstract Oil Painting, Burning Fire (Flame)

A Vibrant, 1960s Mid-Century Modern Abstract Oil Painting, Burning Fire (Flame)

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A Vibrant, Unique Surrealist 1960s Mid-Century Modern Abstract Oil Painting of Burning Fire (Flame) by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon. A vivid, eye-catching example of Haydon...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

A Cheerful 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life of a Colorful Bouquet of Flowers
A Cheerful 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life of a Colorful Bouquet of Flowers

A Cheerful 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life of a Colorful Bouquet of Flowers

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A Fabulous, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Still Life Painting of a Colorful Bouquet of Spring Flowers by Notable Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Completed in the vibrant,...

Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas, Board

Railway Arches & Bridges Abstract Expressionist Art by Modern British Painter
Railway Arches & Bridges Abstract Expressionist Art by Modern British Painter

Railway Arches & Bridges Abstract Expressionist Art by Modern British Painter

By Angela Wakefield

Located in Preston, GB

Abstract Expressionist Painting inspired by the Railway Arches & Bridges of the Industrial North of England by Contemporary British Artist, Angela Wakefield. This original is a r...

Category

1990s Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Gesso, Paint, Varnish, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Wood, Board

Vintage American Hudson River School Coastal Sunset Framed Signed Oil Painting
Vintage American Hudson River School Coastal Sunset Framed Signed Oil Painting

Vintage American Hudson River School Coastal Sunset Framed Signed Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American Hudson River School seascape painting. Oil on board. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 12 by 14 inches overall, and 5 by 7 painting alone.. In excellent original conditio...

Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Earthy Brown & Green Abstract Expressionist Art - a Unique Original Painting
Earthy Brown & Green Abstract Expressionist Art - a Unique Original Painting

Earthy Brown & Green Abstract Expressionist Art - a Unique Original Painting

By Angela Wakefield

Located in Preston, GB

Earthy Brown & Green Abstract Expressionist Art - a Unique Original Painting - an extremely rare early work from leading British Contemporary Artist, Angela Wakefield. This colou...

Category

1990s Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Gesso, Canvas, Cotton, Paint, Varnish, Cotton Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, ...

Vintage Green and Sepia Surrealist Cityscape Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Vintage Green and Sepia Surrealist Cityscape Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting

Vintage Green and Sepia Surrealist Cityscape Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American abstract cityscape by Dorothy Dixon. Framed. Measuring: 23 by 30 inches overall. Signed on verso. Excellent condition, ready to hang and enjoy.

Category

20th Century Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Cattleya Orchids" Jane Peterson, Modernist Bright Flowers, Female Impressionist
"Cattleya Orchids" Jane Peterson, Modernist Bright Flowers, Female Impressionist

"Cattleya Orchids" Jane Peterson, Modernist Bright Flowers, Female Impressionist

By Jane Peterson

Located in New York, NY

Jane Peterson Cattleya Orchids, circa 1940s Signed lower right Oil on canvas 32 x 32 inches Provenance Estate of the artist Artist’s estate sale, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 1960s Priva...

Category

1930s American Modern Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Joy Bomb Triptych, Colorful Abstract Landscape, Oil on Boards Ready to Hang
Joy Bomb Triptych, Colorful Abstract Landscape, Oil on Boards Ready to Hang

Joy Bomb Triptych, Colorful Abstract Landscape, Oil on Boards Ready to Hang

By Alex K. Mason

Located in Versailles, KY

Three colorful oil paintings on finished boards and ready to hang by Alex K. Mason. Lush foliage, vivid sky, bees circling flowers "Joy Bomb Tripytch" is painted in vivid pinks, blu...

Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Previously Available Items
Chatham Square
Chatham Square

Chatham Square

By Franz Kline

Located in New York, NY

Signed (at lower left): FRANZ KLINE RECORDED: Elizabeth Johnson, “Franz Kline’s Roots in Coal and Steel—at Allentown Art Museum,” Artblog (December 21. 2012), illus. in color // Tim...

Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Franz Kline paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Franz Kline paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Bette Ridgeway, Anne Sargent Walker, and Rachel Personett.