Frederick Blumenstein c. 1940s

Franz Kline made this painting, Frederick Blumenstein, sometime in the mid-20th century using oil on canvas. The color palette is subdued, almost drab, yet punctuated by moments of bright, stark color. I imagine Kline approaching the canvas with a similar kind of directness, laying down bold strokes of blues, browns, yellows, and grays. The texture seems almost scrubbed in places, a dry brush effect that adds to the feeling of immediacy, a record of his own process of discovering the form within the act of painting. Look at the hat, how those angular lines of brown capture its essence with such economy. Kline’s work always strikes me as an ongoing conversation with other artists across time, inspiring our creativity. It’s as though he’s asking us to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, understanding there are multiple interpretations and meaning beyond any fixed reading.