Franz Kline (1910-1962)
Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This Abstract Expressionist painter, born in Wilkes-Barre, helped establish the international reputation of American artists in the 1950's. Kline's "Action Painting" is noted for bold, emotionally charged brushstrokes and non-representational subjects. The stark anthracite landscape of his native region inspired Kline's most famous work: his black and white paintings of the 1950s, including "Lehigh", "Luzerne", and "Pittston".
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Born in the coal city of Wilkes-Barre, Franz Kline became a leading figure of Abstract Expressionism, the movement that made New York the center of the postwar art world. He is best known for his large black-and-white canvases of the 1950s, whose slashing, architectural strokes he tied to the stark industrial landscape of his native anthracite region, naming works "Lehigh," "Luzerne," and "Pittston." Through such paintings Kline helped win international recognition for a distinctly American style of abstraction.
Why it matters
Kline shows how the gritty coal country of Pennsylvania could shape one of the boldest voices in American modern art, part of the mid-century surge that placed American painters at the forefront of the world.
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