Franz Kline
Figure 8 1952
© 2014 The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Reproduction, including downloading of ARS member works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
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Figure 8
The simple yet frenetic titular 8 in Franz Kline’s 1952 oil painting Figure 8 appears to be almost splashed onto the canvas. Measuring five and a quarter feet wide by over six and a half feet tall, the image evokes both Japanese calligraphy and urban graffiti.
On a warm white background, the bold black brush strokes start and stop abruptly, overlapping to build a dense sketchy form. The dominant impression is indeed that of a figure 8 but in that shape is a lot of detail and irregularity.
The bottom loop is shaped like a sideways teardrop with the left bottom corner pointy and the right top more rounded. The top loop is roughly a square tilted at an angle and the two loops meet in an x. But there is also a stem that sticks out horizontally to the left from the intersection; a thin vertical line only inches wide splits the bottom loop about a third from the left side. The right, rounded end of the teardrop has the thickest strokes in the painting, about a foot wide.
The top half of the square loop is mostly filled in with patches of white showing through. A thick brush stroke pushes out of the right corner of the square, the top corner is split into pointy shards with a small white triangle formed in the negative space, and a swoop curls from the top half into the center right of the bottom half of the square.
There are other jagged protrusions in almost every curve of the 8.
At some places in the background, small patches of black show through white paint strokes suggesting that the painting process wasn’t simply black painted over white but there may have been some back and forth.
Kline’s arresting composition features vigorous black and white brushstrokes that capture the energy of the physical act of painting. The striking slashes of black coalesce into a calligraphic figure eight, while the white strokes, equally expressive, refuse to recede to the background. Despite the apparent spontaneity of the artist’s sweeping gestures, Kline made several small studies in preparation for this work.
Prior to the Andersons acquiring Figure 8, the work was in the personal collection of William Rubin, who was then Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
-Sidney Simon, PhD ‘18
Artwork Details
- Franz Kline
- b. 1910, Wilkes-Barre, PA
- d. 1962, New York City, NY
- Figure 8
- 1952
- oil on canvas
- 80 7/8 x 63 3/8 in.
- Inscribed on back, upper right: --ANZ KLINE '52 / EGAN GALLERY / Figure 8 Painting is now backed and these inscriptions are no longer visible.
- 2014.1.028
- Decade:1951-1960
- Medium:oil
- Movement:New York School
- Friendships in the New York School Tour, On view
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Friendships in the New York School
Is the figure still or in motion? What is it a figure of? This is the illusion of Kline’s action painting style that he developed after moving to New York in 1939. This style was heavily influenced by his newfound friendship with Willem de Kooning, whose works are exhibited in this collection as well. De Kooning encouraged Kline to create a visual language of his own, introducing him to Jackson Pollock and Philip Guston, also New York School artists with works in the collection.
The large strokes of black paint are dominant yet mask the indecisiveness of Kline revealed under the washes of white paint in the background. It’s as if he painted the figure over and over again. Kline developed this style while sitting in coffee shops in New York, talking with de Kooning about his artistic endeavors and observing those happening around him. With the influence of his wife’s admiration for famously schizophrenic ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, Kline’s inspiration for this work came from scribbling on napkins over and over with forceful pencil marks, creating a great illusion of motion in stillness.
—Irmak Ersoz ‘24
![Collage and Ink Figure Study No. 35 [Joan Brown], 1963](https://anderson.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MN.1963.DWG_.093rev-220x218.jpg)