Zena Kavin
'Victim of Misfortune and Folly' — 1930s Surrealist Fantasy
c. 1935

About the Item

Zena Kavin, 'Victim of Misfortune and Folly, lithograph, c. 1935, edition 20. Signed, titled, and numbered '17/20' in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (5/8 to 1 7/8 inches), in excellent condition. Scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 11 3/8 x 15 1/8 inches (289 x 384 mm); sheet size 12 5/8 x 19 inches (322 x 483 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Cartoonist, sculptor, and printmaker Zena Kavin (1912-2003) was born in Berkeley, California. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) and with Aleksei Kravchenko in Moscow, where she and her family lived briefly. Though Kavin (1912-2003) was a resident of Northern California most of her life, she lived for about four years in New Mexico in the late 1930s and early 1940s, where she worked as an artist with the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. During her time in New Mexico, Kavin’s sculpture was included in the New Mexico art exhibited at the 1939 New York World’s Fair; and in 1940, she created two frescoes as part of the kiva murals for the Coronado State Monument in Bernalillo, New Mexico. In 1940 Kavin married artist and teacher Jon Cornin, and the couple settled in Oakland, California. The couple frequently collaborated, using the pseudonym “Corka.” The Cornins produced cartoons and illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker, and Collier’s. Kavin also produced woodcuts for hand-pressed books and illustrated her husband Jon Cornin’s The Painter’s Credo: Selected Notes. A member of the San Francisco Art Association, Kavin was included in many of the group’s exhibitions between 1935 and 1951. Kavin exhibited in the inaugural exhibition for the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1935, as well as at the California Pacific International Exposition, San Diego, in 1935; the Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, in 1939; and the California State Fair in 1948. Kavin’s work is in the collections of the Davis Art Center, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Oakland Museum of California.

Creator:

Zena Kavin (1912 - 2003)

Creation Year:

c. 1935

Dimensions:

Height: 11.38 in (28.91 cm)Width: 15.13 in (38.44 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph

Movement & Style:

American Modern

Period:

1930-1939