Franz Kline: Coal and Steel

Scheller Gallery

Franz Kline (1910–1962), one of the most celebrated artists of the modern era, was born in northeastern Pennsylvania in the midst of the anthracite coal revolution. His Pennsylvania roots, however, have been largely unknown—until now. This exhibition, curated by Dr. Robert S. Mattison, the Marshall R. Metzgar Professor of Art History at Lafayette College, assembles over fifty works by the artist, many of which have rarely or never been viewed by the public.

Kline’s early representational… Show more works show the coal regions of his childhood. They depict speeding trains powered by anthracite, bridges, and raw industrial scenes. When Kline moved to New York City in 1938, his vision of the city was profoundly influenced by these early experiences. In New York he painted on the “edges” of the city, depicting empty squares, skeletal buildings, and the abandoned Third Avenue El.

The exhibition will be divided by themes: Pennsylvania, New York, The Studio, Experimental Abstractions, and Mature Abstractions. Around 1950, when Kline developed the large scale black and white abstract paintings for which he became internationally famous, he was drawing on memories of the trestles, locomotives, and coal breakers of his youth. These forms symbolized for him the force of the modern industrial age.

The connections between Kline’s early and later paintings will be explored for the first time in this important exhibition. The exhibition will feature an illustrated catalog.

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