Dance Hall, 1941, Franz Kline (1910-1962), Pencil and ink on paper

“The fourth piece in the group that I bought was the Franz Kline, and I was aware of his artwork in the bold, geometric black and white sort of abstract design pieces, but I’d never seen anything like this.

I’ve always been drawn to sketchbooks. When you go to an art museum and they have whatever kind of shows, they often have a glass case that have the sketchbooks from the artists. I’m so interested in how people begin their career, the difference between that sketchbook and the details of him sketching in a bar with a piano player and everything going on, and how he progressed into having this very abstract splashes of black and white.

It’s impressive to me so many of these people, of these artists started that way. They started in graphic design, taking art courses, and learning to draw, and they have that skill, but they move from that into more abstract design. So I think that’s pretty cool.” – Terry Scarborough (‘74)