Seated Women Facing Left [recto] c. 1945

Franz Kline made this drawing of a seated woman facing left with a pencil on paper. It’s all about the line here, isn’t it? Just look at that network of pencil marks, searching and describing, almost feeling its way around the figure, and letting us see all those tentative efforts. I can feel Kline working, trying to get the weight and posture of the woman just right, the pressure of her body on the chair. I imagine him stepping back, squinting, then leaning in again, each mark an act of inquiry. The image seems to emerge slowly. It’s so different from his huge, bold black and white paintings, but you can feel a similar energy here, a willingness to risk everything in each stroke. This reminds me of de Kooning’s figurative work, where the act of drawing or painting becomes a way of thinking through the body, of grappling with form and space. I am reminded that we're all in this ongoing conversation. It shows me that painting is really about an ongoing conversation about how we see, think, and experience the world.