Though lacking in color, Franz Kline’s powerful black and white paintings make up for it in power. An Abstract Expressionist, Kline (1910 – 1962), originally painted images of the coal-mining region in Pennsylvania where he was born, but later began using housepainters' brushes to create explosive black slashes on white backgrounds. He first became interested in abstract representation when fellow artist Willem de Kooning projected one of Kline’s sketches on a wall, focusing on the strength of the lines instead of the subject of the painting. Kline profoundly influenced the second generation of Abstract Expressionists, and his works are extraordinary achievements of American postwar painting.