American painter who studied illustration and drawing at Boston University (1931-35) and at the Heatherley School of Art in London (1937-38). These two artistic media would later produce a significant contribution to Abstract Expressionism. Kline admired and was influenced by various artists such as Rembrandt, Goya, Manet, Sargent and Whistler. He began by painting portraits, figures sitting on swings, railway bridges and Pennsylvania landscapes. At the end of the 40s, he developed his own gestural painting style requiring increasingly large canvases. In 1958-59, he experimented with colours of structural form such as black and white. Kline developed an individual form of Action Painting, reminiscent of Far East calligraphy.
