Franz Kline’s monumental ‘Washington Wall' | Christie's

Franz Kline’s ‘Washington Wall,’ a highlight in this season’s 20th Century Evening sale.

One of only two from the series of ‘Wall’ paintings that contains color, this monumental canvas from 1959 is an ode to the city of Washington, in the artist’s native Pennsylvania, which was once the heart of a booming coal mining industry.

Profoundly influenced by the Pennsylvanian landscape’s vast “walls” of coal, in the mid-to-late 1950s, Kline overcomes the dominance of black and white within his brooding compositions, arriving at innovations in both color and scale on full display in this work. At the request of his new dealer Sidney Janis, he turns to more versatile and higher quality paint that broadens his palette. Simultaneously, he is deeply engaged in an artistic exchange with close friend and master colorist, de Kooning. These shifts, as well as the freedom his commercial success grants him to work on a grand scale, result in a dramatic and innovative triumph in gesture, color and volume.

Originally commissioned by the distinguished member of Washington, D.C. society, Mrs. Jane Wheeler, and acquired twenty years ago from the collection of Edward R. Broida, ‘Washington Wall’ is one of many highlights from ‘Vital Line: A New York Collection’ on view at Christie’s this May.