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Unlike presidential portraits familiar to museum goers, schoolchildren,
and employees in the halls of government, Kline's paintings
reflect his idiosyncratic impression of a particular characteristic
of our former leaders. For example, Mr. Kline's portrait
of Richard Nixon is a rare, somewhat sympathetic portrait
as it captures Nixon as a young boy with his treasured violin.
Kline's rendering of Millard Fillmore is inspired by the
13th President's first and beloved wife, Abigail, who started
the first White House Library. By painting Abigail holding
the President's portrait, the Fillmore painting is, in fact,
a portrait of a portrait. President Ulysses S. Grant's sorrow
and weight of circumstance is visible in his demeanor and
expression. The rain falls as Grant overlooks his army's
tents and mourns the losses all have suffered. Also setting
Kline's portraits apart are the subtly written facets of
the Presidents' lives in several of his paintings - as the
pattern of a lapel, the side of a tent, or the lace on a
dress.
Along with multiple exhibits in New York
City and throughout Florida and New Jersey, Kline has been
featured in places as diverse as the Joslyn Art Museum in
the Heartlands and Moscow, Russia, where his paintings were
selected for an international art exchange program.
Kline is well known in his home state of
Florida for his award-winning 'License plate for the Arts',
an effort that has generated over five million dollars for
the arts.
Presidents
Sold: Chester A. Arthur - Thomas Jefferson
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