Kline was married to a ballet dancer, Elizabeth Parsons, who, like the famous Russian dancer Nijinsky, suffered from schizophrenia. Kline made several portraits of Nijinsky during his early years, when he worked as a commercial illustrator. This work, however, does not depict the dancer. It is one of the first in Kline’s mature style, developed over the winter of 1949–50. During a visit to de Kooning’s studio, Kline saw one of his own sketches enlarged with an overhead projector. For the first time he saw that his calligraphic studies, which were made on the pages of a telephone book, worked well as large pictures. This canvas was included in Kline’s first one-man show at Charles Egan’s gallery. The titles were created, more or less arbitrarily, by a committee composed of Egan, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, and Kline. The zig-zag line at bottom left may have reminded Kline of the ruff that Nijinsky wore in an earlier portrait of him as Petrouchka.
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Inscription: Signed and inscribed (verso): FRANZ KLINE / EGAN GALLERY / N.YC
[Charles Egan Gallery, New York, 1950–52; sold in May 1952 to Steinberg]; Muriel Kallis Steinberg, Chicago (1952–2006; her gift to MMA)
New York. Charles Egan Gallery. "Franz Kline," October 16–November 4, 1950, unnum. brochure.
Venice. U.S.A. Pavilion. "XXX Biennale internazionale d’arte. Quattro Artisti Americani: Guston, Hofmann, Kline, Roszak," June 18–October 16, 1960, no. 27 (lent by Collection Sig.ra Albert H. Newman, Chicago, Illinois) [image reproduced upside-down].
New York. World House Galleries. "Venice Biennale Prize-Winners 1960," February 14–March 4, 1961, unnumbered cat. (p. 15; lent by Mrs. Albert H. Newman, Chicago) [organized and circulated by the American Federation of Arts, presented under the auspices of the Italian Cultural Institute, New York].
Milwaukee Art Center. "Venice Biennale Prize-Winners 1960," May 11–June 11, 1961, unnumbered cat.
Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Venice Biennale Prize-Winners 1960," June 1–August 15, 1961, unnumbered cat.
Chicago. McCormick Place Art Gallery. "Venice Biennale Prize-Winners 1960," September 1–30, 1961, unnumbered cat.
Syracuse, N.Y. Everson Museum of Art. "Venice Biennale Prize-Winners 1960," October 15–November 15, 1961, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "An American Choice: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection," May 21–September 27, 1981, unnumbered cat. (p. 65).
Barcelona. Fundació Antoni Tàpies. "Franz Kline: Art and the Structure of Identity," March 18–June 5, 1994, no. 1 (lent by Muriel Kallis Newman, Chicago).
London. Whitechapel Gallery. "Franz Kline: Art and the Structure of Identity," July 8–September 11, 1994, no. 1.
Houston. Menil Collection. "Franz Kline: Black and White, 1950–1961," September 8–November 27, 1994, no. 1 (lent by the Collection of Muriel Kallis Newman, Chicago).
Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. "Franz Kline: Art and the Structure of Identity," September 27–November 21, 1994, no. 1.
Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany. "Franz Kline: Art and the Structure of Identity," December 11–February 5, 1995, no. 1.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Franz Kline: Black and White, 1950–1961," December 16, 1994–March 5, 1995, no. 1.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. "Franz Kline: Black and White, 1950–1961," March 25–June 4, 1995, no. 1.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900–2000. Part 1: 1900–1950," April 23–August 22, 1999, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 17, 2007–February 3, 2008, extended to March 2, 2008, no. 28.
Sabro Hasegawa. "The Beauty of Black and White." Bokubi 12, no. 4 (1951), p. 37, ill. p. 34.
Michel Seuphor. "Paris New York 1951." Art d'aujourd'hui no. 6 (June 1951), ill. p. 5 (installation photo, Exh. New York 1950).
Elaine de Kooning. "Two Americans in Action: Franz Kline, Mark Rothko." Art News Annual XXVII Christmas Edition (Part II) 56, no. 7 (November 1957), p. 91, ill.
Barbara Butler. "Franz Kline." Arts Yearbook no. 3 (1959), p. 128, ill., locates it in a private collection.
Lawrence Alloway. "Sign and Surface (Notes on Black and White Painting in New York)." Quadrum 9 (1960), p. 54.
Adelyn D. Breeskin. "Trois peintres américains." L'Oeil no. 67–68 (July–August 1960), pp. 54–59, ill. (incorrect orientation).
Edith Weigle. "New Gallery: Old Art Name." Chicago Sunday Tribune (September 10, 1961), part 5, page 9, ill. (upside-down).
"The Arts." Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) (October 29, 1961), p. 17.
Elaine de Kooning. "Franz Kline: Painter of His Own Life." Art News 61 (November 1962), pp. 30, 69, ill.
Allen S. Weller. ART USA NOW. Ed. Lee Nordness. New York, 1963, vol. 1, p. 192.
Barbara Butler. "Franz Kline in Retrospect." Arts Magazine 37 (January 1963), pp. 32–33.
Eleanor Page. "She Lives in an Art Museum." Chicago Tribune (September 13, 1964), sec. 5, p. 3.
Harry F. Gaugh. "The Art of Franz Kline, 1930–1950: Figurative to Mature Abstraction." PhD diss., Indiana University, 1972, p. 235, fig. vi, 17.
Sam Hunter and John Jacobus. American Art of the 20th Century: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York, 1973, fig. 401, calls it "Nijinsky (Petrushka)" and dates it about 1950.
Barbara Rose. American Art Since 1900. Rev. and expanded ed. (1st ed., 1967). New York, 1975, p. 174, fig. 7-14, dates it about 1950.
Harry F. Gaugh. "Franz Kline's Romantic Abstraction." Artforum 13 (Summer 1975), ill. p. 29.
J. Kirk T. Varnedoe inModern Portraits: The Self and Others. Ed. J. Kirk T. Varnedoe. Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1976, p. 78.
H. H. Arnason. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Rev. and enl. ed. New York, 1977, p. 527, fig. 903, calls it "Nijinsky (Petrushka)" and dates it about 1950.
Albert Boime inFranz Kline: The Early Works as Signals. Exh. cat., University Art Gallery, State University of New York. [Binghamton], [1977], p. 15.
Alice Hess. "Great Private Collections: A Chicago Visionary." Saturday Review 7 (October 1980), p. 72, 74, ill. pp. 3, 73 (installation photo, Muriel Newman's apartment).
Grace Glueck. "Met Is Given a $12 Million Art Collection." New York Times (December 10, 1980), p. B7, calls it "Portrait of Nijinsky".
"Chicagoan Gives Art to N.Y. Museum." Chicago Sun-Times (December 11, 1980), p. 8, calls it "Portrait of Nijinsky".
Hilton Kramer. "Modernist Show Moves Met Firmly into Art of 20th Century." New York Times (May 22, 1981), pp. C1, C21, ill.
Grace Glueck. "Is Chicago Losing Out in the Art War?" New York Times (August 2, 1981), p. D1.
Dale Edward Fern. God Nijinsky: A Realization for the Theatre Created for "The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky" in Performance. New York, 1981, ill., dust jacket (upside-down).
William S. Lieberman inAn American Choice: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1981, pp. 64, 155, ill. p. 65.
Harry F. Gaugh. The Vital Gesture: Franz Kline. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. New York, 1985, pp. 70–71, 73, 82, 87, 90, 93, 95–96, 157, 182.
Harry F. Gaugh. "Franz Kline: The Man and the Myths." Art News 84 (December 1985), p. 66.
Eugene Victor Thaw. "The Abstract Expressionists." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 44 (Winter 1986–87), pp. 39, 47, fig. 31 (color).
Sylvia Hochfield. "Thoroughly Modern Met." Art News 86 (February 1987), p. 116.
April Kingsley. The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art. New York, 1992, pp. 264, 277–79, 366, ill. between pp. 160 and 161 (color) and cover (color).
David Anfam inFranz Kline: Black and White, 1950–1961. Exh. cat., Menil Collection. Houston, 1994, pp. 15, 18, 112, no. 1, ill. (color).
Susan Chadwick. "Franz Kline's Potent Abstracts Challenge the Eye." Houston Post (September 15, 1994), pp. D1–D2, ill.
Mario Naves. "Graphic Artist." New Criterion 13, no. 6 (February 1995), p. 44.
Paul Brach. "Urban Grit." Art in America 83 (April 1995), p. 97, ill. p. 98.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, ed. Franz Kline, 1910–1962. Exh. cat., Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea. Milan, 2004, pp. 307, 309 (English translation of Ref. Hasegawa 1951), ill., locates it in a private collection.
Nan Rosenthal in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2005–2006." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 64 (Fall 2006), p. 61, ill. (color).
Gary Tinterow inAbstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, fig. 3 (color, installation photo, Newman home, ca. 1980).
Pepe Karmel inAbstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 104–7, no. 33, ill. (color) and ill. frontispiece (color, detail).
Annie Cohen-Solal. Leo and His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli. New York, 2010, ill. p. 197 (installation photo).
JoLee Gillespie Stephens. "Modern Art and Modern Movement: Images of Dance in American Art, c. 1900–1950." PhD diss., University of Kansas, 2011, pp. 3, 131–32, 140–41, 146–49, 169–79, 253, fig. 4.16.
Sharyn R. Udall. Dance and American Art: A Long Embrace. Madison, Wis., 2012, pp. 153, 156, 286 n. 41, fig. 97 (color).
Jenni Sorkin. Live Form: Women, Ceramics, and Community. Chicago, 2016, pp. 108–9, fig. 3.4 (color).
Brice Marden and Sheena Wagstaff in Kelly Baum et al. Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. New York, 2016, p. 251.
AnnMarie Perl. "A Belated 'Breakthrough' to Abstraction." In Focus: Meryon 1960–1 by Franz Kline. Online resource [tate.org.uk], 2017, fig. 2 (color).
Corina E. Rogge et al. "Chaper 4. A New Voice: Genesis of the 1950 Charles Egan Gallery Show." Franz Kline: The Artist's Materials. Los Angeles, 2022, pp. 48–50, 52–54, 56–67, 113 nn. 14–15, figs. 4.2 (color), 4.11 (color, overlay of painting), 4.15 (cross section of paint sample), 4.16 (macro X-ray fluorescence image), discuss findings from technical analysis.
Corina E. Rogge. "Chapter 5. Beginnings of Success, 1951–1956." Franz Kline: The Artist's Materials. Los Angeles, 2022, p. 83.
Corina E. Rogge. "Chapter 6. Artistic Maturity: Continued Experimentation, 1956–1961." Franz Kline: The Artist's Materials. Los Angeles, 2022, p. 99.
Corina E. Rogge et al. "Chapter 7. Analysis and Technical Study: Implications for Current Condition and Future Conservation." Franz Kline: The Artist's Materials. Los Angeles, 2022, pp. 113, 115–16, 118.
Corina E. Rogge et al. "Appendix II: Analytical Results." Franz Kline: The Artist's Materials. Los Angeles, 2022, pp. 121–24, 126, tables 1–2, 4–5.
Corina E. Rogge with Zahira Véliz Bomford. "Appendix III: Works of Art Examined." Franz Kline: The Artist's Materials. Los Angeles, 2022, p. 128.
Robert S. Mattison. Franz Kline Paintings, 1950–1962. Online resource [franzkline.hauserwirthinstitute.org/artworks], 2025 (accessed), no. 13, Ref. No. FKL8ZB52, ill. (color).
Franz Kline (American, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 1910–1962 New York)
1952
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