1947 Franz Kline Oil Portrait
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GUEST:
This is a portrait of my grandfather that was done in 1947. My aunt at that time was taking painting lessons at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. And she came up with the idea of having a portrait done of my grandfather.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
So she asked her painting instructor if he'd be willing to do it. Unfortunately, he was willing to do it, but for $250, which was way out of what my aunt could afford. She brought my mother in on the project, and asked the, her painting instructor if perhaps he knew somebody else who could do it for less of a fee. He suggested a gentleman who he knew from the Lower East Side of New York, who they met the following week.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
That gentleman was Franz Kline, and he agreed to do the portrait for $75. So my grandfather had three sittings in Kline's studio, and reported that the studio was pretty much like a debris field, with pieces of the yellow pages torn out and painted on. But at the end of the three sittings, we had this portrait, which has been in our family ever since.
APPRAISER:
So the portrait cost...
GUEST:
$75.
APPRAISER:
$75. It's an original oil on canvas. It's by Franz Kline, executed in 1947.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And you know about Franz Kline as a painter?
GUEST:
I know that he's one of the giants of Abstract Expressionism.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm, absolutely. He started out, actually, working in a more representational style. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1910. He studied art in Boston. He also went on to study in London. He returns to the United States in 1939, ultimately sets up in New York, in Greenwich Village, and in around the 1940s, starts to establish this style of Abstract Expressionism. And by about 1950, really hits his stride in his mature style of Abstract Expressionism. And it's during that same year that he has his first solo show. The painting is fascinating, because when we think of an artist who is primarily an Abstract Expressionist, we don't think of an artist doing portrait paintings. Is it a good likeness of your grandfather?
GUEST:
It looks exactly as I remember him.
APPRAISER:
Did he ever have a chance to tell you about what Kline was like as a person, as an artist?
GUEST:
We know that, as my grandfather finished the three sittings...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
He turned to my aunt, and he said, "I wouldn't give you ten bucks for everything in the entire studio."
APPRAISER:
(chuckles)
GUEST:
We kind of wish he had.
APPRAISER:
Right, right. What's great about this is, the provenance is so ironclad, really helps to establish authenticity. It is atypical, so that has some bearing in today's market. If the painting were offered at auction today, we would value it at $3,000 to $5,000.
GUEST:
Wow, that's excellent.
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