Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter born in Pennsylvania. He is mainly associated with the
Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other
action painters like
Jackson Pollock,
Willem de Kooning,
Robert Motherwell and
Lee Krasner, as well as local poets, dancers, and musicians came to be known as the informal group, the
New York School. Although he explored the same innovations to painting as the other artists in this group, Kline's work is distinct in itself and has been revered since the 1950s.