Untitled [verso] c. 1940s - 1950s

Franz Kline made this untitled work on paper with ink or paint and maybe some kind of thin brush. You can see how he was working out ideas, framing and containing them, letting them sit on the page next to one another. It makes me think about him trying things out, going back and forth. I feel like I'm right there in the studio with him. Kline's known for his big, bold strokes, and here you get to see the origins of that. The tension of the marks, how they push and pull against each other, it makes me feel something. It's not just what's there, but the negative space, the what's-not-there, that's speaking too. There's a dance happening, a conversation between forms. It's like he's sketching out a whole world of possibilities. And even though these are quick studies, there's a real feeling. A real kind of seeing.