Artist. Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Kline studied art in London before settling in New York in 1939. His early work was figurative, social realism with cubist overtones. During the 1950’s, Kline developed his unique vocabulary of gestural brushstrokes and became associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. He taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and The Cooper Union in New York. Kline’s paintings in black and white are large with massive forms in a dense space. They very expressive, evoking the urban landscapes of New York and Pennsylvania. Kline used ordinary household paint and large housepainters’ brushes to quickly apply paint to canvases tacked directly to the wall. The black brushstrokes go beyond the edges of the canvas creating an energy and dynamism, while also giving the effect of presenting a detail or huge fragment of an even more monumental image. In the late 1950’s, Kline introduced color into the paintings, but he died before it became a major part of the work. (bio by: MC)