Bettie Kline

Conceived by Richard Prince and limited to a thousand copies this large-format artist's book juxtaposes Irving Klaw's photographs of 1950s pinup model Bettie Page with reproductions of artworks by Abstract Expressionist painter Franz Kline. According to Prince's accompanying text Klaw maintained a studio at the New York address where Kline lived and worked. In Prince's account Kline would sometimes use Klaw's models for figure studies and Page became his secret subject and muse. The book's unexpected pairings of Klaw's photos with Kline's expressive marks produce a frisson of surprise and extend the art historical significance of the female nude.