Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Franz Kline became one of the most prominent 20th-century American artists working in abstract and non objective styles. His name is most associated with large-scale black and white paintings, and these linear abstractions brought him his first notable public attention in 1950 when they were shown in New York City. Of these paintings with no coloration, Kline said: "People sometimes think I take a white canvas and paint a black sign on it, but this is not true. I paint the white as well as the black, and the white is just as important." (Herskovic 186)

Franz Kline began his career as a figure and landscape painter, and studied in the Art Department of Boston University from 1931 to 1935 and Heather...