![]() In clear, the question is whether there can truly be an arbitrariness of choice, to paraphrase Waldman, when each name is related to a meaningful memory, thought, emotion, etc. – and its title (the signified) is arbitrary, the sole knowledge that the titles were chosen because each had a special meaning to him suffices to deter this view. Indeed, unless one opines that the semiotic relation between the painting itself (the signifier) – its subject matter (if any), style, colors, etc. In my opinion, that is a debatable statement. It has been said that Kline chose his titles very arbitrarily (Waldman 1976:53). Let us first turn to the artist himself and see what he had to say on the subject : In short, I posit that studying the names of his paintings can lead to a better appreciation of his art by way of his passions, interests and life experiences. After all, as Coleman Danto (2001:119) rightly observed : “The relationship of titles to paintings in abstract expressionism practice is never clear-cut.” That said, rather than try to establish such a relationship, I see a more interesting project in pursuing Kline’s interest in onomastics on his own terms, so to speak. To some, studying the naming of such abstract imagery may initially appear like a dead end research project, one that is seemingly unproductive and far too extrapolative. This is obviously something that needs to be taken into account if one is looking to create a decisive taxonomy such as the one proposed here. ![]() What’s more, the painter even appears as an amateur onomastician who specializes in the Native American place names of eastern Pennsylvania. The quotes from Mattison and Finsel both imply a rather interesting fact : Kline had a keen interest in the toponymy of Pennsylvania. Each category is supported by one or more selected quotes, or by a brief remark. Therefore, what follows is a taxonomy of the titles of Kline’s paintings – or at least those I could certify as his as no catalogue were ever produced of Kline’s oeuvre. ![]() And studying what the painter himself (or those very close to him) have said about either the titles or of the naming process that birthed them appears the proper methodology for such an investigation. What is of interest to me is rather to categorize the titles of his paintings so as to try and uncover any invisible threads that might tie them together into a significant – and perhaps telling – whole. That said, such a freudian program is not the aim of this humble paper. ![]() Having himself claimed that his inspiration came from unconscious sources, there may very well be some truth to this hypothesis. So strong were Kline’s roots in the Coal Region that many connoisseurs have postulated that his “black girders and joists and I-beams, built in layers and then feathered into white pictorial voids” (Graham-Dixon 1994) were subcon scious manifestations of the industrial installations he longly observed as a budding drafsman.
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