(Attributed to) Franz Kline (1910-1962), Untitled, n.d., oil on canvas, H. 58 x W. 68 inches, James A. Michener Art Museum. Gift of Mari and James A. Michener.
Note: This post was written by the Michener Art Museum’s former Director/CEO Bruce Katsiff. This work is currently on view in the exhibition, 30 Years: Art at the Michener, 1988-2018.
When I first arrived at the Michener in 1989, the museum’s collection was virtually non-existent. The collection held fewer than 50 objects and most were not high quality. The only paintings of note were a small group of Abstract Expressionist canvases which Jim Michener had left in his Bucks County home. In the 1960s, Jim Michener had built an excellent collection of American paintings, the bulk of which had been given to the University of Texas at Austin. Among the works that had been left in Jim’s Pipersville home were paintings by Karl Knaths, Grace Hartigan, Kyle Morris, Helen Frankenthaler and the prized object, a large (58 x 68) untitled canvas by Franz Kline. Kline, who died in 1961 at the age of 51, was a giant of the New York School who, along with Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, came to symbolize the power and vitality of postwar American Abstract Expressionism.
The painting was included in the Michener’s 1988 inaugural exhibition, but by the time I arrived it had been placed in storage. As the new director, I took the liberty of hanging the canvas in my office (we no longer allow collection items to be hung in staff offices) so I could enjoy the work and learn more about Kline and his oeuvre. As a part of my personal education, I began to seek out other examples of Kline’s work so I could compare our canvas with others in larger collections. The more familiar I became with Kline’s work, the more uncomfortable I became with our untitled work.
There are three main factors in determining authenticity of artworks: provenance, connoisseurship and physical characteristics. Provenance traces the history of a work of art – who owned the object, where was it acquired, whether there is clear documentation that records the artwork’s history. Connoisseurship is more subjective – does the work look and feel right? Is the draftsmanship similar to other works by the same artist? Physical characteristics can be the most objective – are the materials used consistent with the time the object is supposed to have been created? A painting made with acrylic paints cannot be from the 16th century since acrylic materials were developed in the 20th century.
The Michener’s Franz Kline raised doubt in all three areas: connoisseurship, provenance and physical characteristics. In every Kline painting that I observed there are many shades of both black and white. There might be 20 values of white and 15 values of black, while the Michener’s picture was truly black and white with a single value for each color. There were also some troubling questions about the honesty and integrity of the dealer from whom Jim had purchased the painting. The dealer was known to have sold other fake artworks. And finally, there were questions about the physical characteristics of the work. Kline often worked on an unstretched canvas which was mounted on stretchers after the work was complete. In many of Kline’s works, paint could be found running to the edge of the canvas. The painting in our collection was completed after the canvas had been mounted on the stretchers; there was no paint beyond the front edge of the work. It was also troubling that in our painting, the artist painted black strokes over a white background. In most of Kline’s works he would paint the black first and then paint the white as a top layer.
I became convinced our painting was a fake and it could only be exhibited with a label that said “attributed to Franz Kline.” There was, however, a problem with my plan. Would I embarrass Jim Michener if I took this action? I decided to write to Jim, express my concerns and seek his approval for my plan. In a phone conversation that followed my letter, Jim told me he “didn’t see any other way that I could exhibit the painting.”
Is the painting real or fake? I believe it is a fake, the Michener’s first fake, but probably not our last!
-Bruce Katsiff, Director/CEO, May 2011