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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Fred R. Kline

Contact: POB 8114 * Santa Fe, NM, 87504
FRK@KlineGallery.com * 505-9881103
Revised August 2006

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Art Business

Co-Director with Jann Kline, his wife of over 20 years, of  Fred R. Kline Gallery & Kline Art Research Associates, established 1979-80 in Santa Fe [see www.klinegallery.com].  For the last decade the gallery and art research library were open to the public on West San Francisco Street near the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe.   As of June 1, 2006,  the Klines see clients by appointment only at 7th Heaven Ranch in the Pecos River Valley, a short scenic drive from Santa Fe.  

The gallery buys, sells, and exhibits important fine art from the 16th to 20th centuries, and over the years has held many exhibitions of contemporary artists.  The mission of the research arm, and Fred Kline’s specialty, is the discovery and development of lost or unnoticed art—seeking to give a name to art without a name and to add works of quality to the archives of art history. [see www.klineartresearch.com ].   

Fred R. Kline Gallery has placed many rare and beautiful works worldwide.  The gallery concentrates on paintings, drawings, and sculpture in the fields of 16th -18th century Old Masters, 19th & early 20th century American and European art, and 16-20th century Spanish  Colonial and Mexican works of art.  Museums, public institutions, and corporations which have acquired works of art from Fred R. Kline Gallery include: J. Paul Getty Museum; Pierpont Morgan Library; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Clark Art Institute; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Kansas City Art Institute; Eiteljorg Museum; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame; El Paso Museum of Art; Southwest Museum of Art; Museum of Spanish Colonial Art; Knights of Columbus Museum; Leeds Museum; Torch Energy Advisors; Museum of Fine Art, Houston; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe; Harwood Museum, Taos; Davis Museum, Wellesley College; Gulf Canada; Houston Oil Producing Enterprises; Roswell Museum; Santa Fe Art Institute; Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College.  Many noted private collections are also numbered among the clients of Fred R. Kline Gallery.

Santa Fe Gallery Association (Founding Member 1980).

George Caleb Bingham Catalogue Raisonne Supplement
Of Paintings and Drawings

Acting Editor since 2005 of the George Caleb Bingham Catalogue Raisonne Supplement of Paintings and Drawings.[www.GeorgeCalebBingham.org ], building upon and continuing the work of the great Bingham scholar E. Maurice Bloch (1916-1989) and his catalogues raisonnes of Bingham’s paintings and drawings.  To date (August 2006), three important paintings by Bingham have been added to the body of Bloch’s authenticated works.   

Established and underwritten by Kline Art Research Associates, this project is the first online catalogue raisonne of an American or European artist and the first catalogue raisonne to offer open online access to its ongoing research.

Academic Studies, Teaching, Academia

Studies

 B.A. (English) & M.F.A (Creative Writing), San Francisco State University, 1967-1968. 

Courses of study in Philosophy & Humanities: University of Texas/ Austin, Trinity University/San Antonio, University of the Americas/Mexico City, University of California/Berkeley.

Teaching & Academia

Public School: Bryant Middle School, Dos Palos, CA, 8th Grade English teacher, 1968-69.  

College: Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH, English and Creative Writing Instructor, 1969-72. 

University: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Special Assistant to President Frank Rhodes/Associate Director of University Relations/English Instructor/ Contributing Writer Cornell Alumni Magazine, 1979-80.

Board of Visitors, College of Santa Fe (2002-)


Some Publications & Works in Progress

Four books of poems—49 Poems (Austin, 1964), I, Dodo(San Francisco, 1968), Crazy Love(Columbus, 1970), Birthsongs (Washington, 1972).  Notable recognition from Conrad Aiken, Norman O. Brown, Peter Matthiessen, Josephine Jacobson, and others. 

National Geographic Magazine, Editorial Staff Writer, Washington, DC, 1972-77.   National Geographic Magazine articles include “Baltimore” (Feb.1975), “Library of Congress ”(Nov.1975), “San Antonio”(Apr.1976).  Traveled  arctic regions Alaska and Baffin Island on assignments. Co-authored book, Alaska, High Roads to Adventure ( 1976, National Geographic Books).  Explored areas of Baffin Island including: Auyuittuq National Park (northernmost National Park in North America), Penny Icecap, Cumberland Sound, and mounted 1976 Pagnirtung Pass Expedition from Broughton Island on Davis Strait to Pangnirtung on Cumberland Sound (“Across The High Arctic ”, Apr. 22, 1979, The Washington Post Magazine)

In Progress: “Art Explorer: A Search for Lost Art in America” (a memoir).  Note: Some of  Kline’s art discoveries were described  in his essay:  “You Never Know: An Ongoing Search for Lost Art in America” (ART & ANTIQUES, Feb.1989).  In July 1989, an article in ESQUIRE magazine featured Kline’s art investment activities.  An April 2, 2002 New York Times feature “An Art Explorer Finds the Real Creators of  Works” further documented some of Kline’s art research activities.


Art Awards

Poems: Recorded selection of poems at Library of Congress in 1975 at the invitation of  U. S. Poet Laureate Josephine Jacobson.

Sculpture: Public sculpture site Temple of the Hills (Santa Fe, NM) selected for recognition and publication in annual national survey of public sculpture in 1995 ART IN AMERICA ANNUAL.   

Sculpture: Temple of the Hills chosen for inclusion in the Smithsonian United States Outdoor Sculpture Survey, 1997.

Art History: Consultants in Historic Texas Paintings (Fred & Jann Kline) by invitation of the Curator of the Texas State Capitol, Austin, mid-1980s.  Organized and co-curated several notable loan exhibitions of 19th & early 20th century Texas paintings, stimulating collecting of early Texas art and development of Texas art history.  Fred Kline also wrote a widely reprinted and influential essay, “Collecting Artists of Texas—A Surprising State of the Arts” (first published in Antiques West, 1993). 


Early Geography

Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, early childhood during WWII in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.  Former hometown: San Antonio, Texas, Thomas Jefferson High School (class of ’57) 


Family

Fred & Jann Kline have five children and seven grandchildren, and always a few great dogs.     

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