Wolf Kahn Art

Wolf Kahn (1927-2020) was a German-born American artist acclaimed for his powerful landscapes, which masterfully combine elements of natural realism with the celebration of color emb...

Oil on canvas 52 x 36 inches (132.1 x 91.4 cm) Framed dimensions: 53 1/4 x 37 1/4 in Dated and inscribed on verso: 2009/42 Provenance Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT; Private collection,...

'Study for Connecticut at Putney' is an original pastel drawing by American artist Wolf Kahn. The landscape is an exploration of color and light: it is rendered in cool blues and purples with fields of subtle yellow, the pastels treated with the same gesture as Kahn's paintbrush on a canvas. Indeed, this pastel was a study executed en plein air for a painting – the painting now sometimes called 'Bend in the River' – that he later created in the studio. This process of creating studies, selecting the best of the studies, and then recreating them as paintings was typical of Kahn's studio process and makes this pastel a significant example of the artist's creative output. 9 x 11 inches, artwork 15.5 x 18.13 inches, frame Signed 'W. Kahn' lower right Framed to conservation standards using archival materials including 100 percent rag matting. Housed in a gold finish wood moulding. Acquired directly from the artist. Wolf Kahn, the youngest of four siblings, was born into a well-to-do artistic family. His father was the conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic Symphony, and his mother came from a family of art collectors.(1) During 1938, Kahn took his first art lessons, but most of his initial drawings were of military or historical events. The next year Kahn was sent to England for safety following the ascendancy of Hitler to power, and in 1940, he immigrated to the United States. In 1942, he entered New York's High School of Music and Art, and while there, he was employed by a commercial art firm doing illustrations. After a stint in the Navy, Kahn entered Hans Hofmann's school, and among his fellow students were Neil Blaine, Jane Freilicher, Allan Kaprow and Larry Rivers. His initial results were done with a dark palette and abstracted forms, and although Hofmann's style of teaching was difficult, Kahn has consistently praised him for teaching him the value of control and understanding.(2) Kahn's first exhibition was a 1951 group show in a loft with several other artists in lower Manhattan. From this impromptu show, a group effort evolved called the Hansa Gallery Cooperative.(3) In 1953, Wolf Kahn had a one-man show at this gallery, which was reviewed by Fairfield Porter, and at this same time bolder, more vivid colors began to appear in his work. By the mid-1950's, on a summer trip to Provincetown, Kahn's paintings indicated a new direction of softening warm colors in the manner of Bonnard. He was included in Meyer Shapiro's seminal exhibition, The New York School: The Second Generation at the Jewish Museum, and by the end of the 1950s, he had developed his abstracted landscape style for which he is best known. In 1966, he made his first "barn" painting on Martha's Vineyard that reduced the complexities of detail of the architecture to a more basic shape, a stylistic convention that is evident in the Museum's painting. Kahn has since commented frequently on his use of color as a unique and specific component of each work as the situation demands, where the gradual buildup of the colors resembles the beauty and translucent nature of pastels.(4) Since then Kahn has had one-person exhibitions at the Kansas City Art Institute, Chrysler Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art and the Columbus Museum, among others. His work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums throughout the United States. Footnotes: 1. Much of the biographical information is drawn from Justin Spring, Wolf Kahn (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996). 2. Spring, 21. Wolf Kahn draws this from a 1973 address to the College Art Association. 3. This group included Jane Wilson...

Signed, original, 1994, oil–on-canvas painting, Corps de Ballet by significant American artist, Wolf Kahn (b. 1927). Winner: Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships. Award in Art from...

Wolf Kahn Summer Studio, 2012 Signed lower center Pastel on paper 9 x 11 1/2 inches An important member of the second generation New York School, Wolf ...

Wolf Kahn paints a row of trees with the sun peeking out from underneath in his stellar oil painting entitled “Sunlit Hill.”

Blue, purple, and green toned winter landscape pastel drawing by German-American painter, Wolf Kahn. Signed by the artist in the lower right corner. Framed and matted in a gold frame...

Wolf Kahn Emily & The Baby II (Grace Borgenicht Gallery), 1960 Pastel on Paper. Hand signed on the front. Grace Borgenicht gallery label on the back Vintage frame included Provenance...

Wolf Kahn Ocean Cove, 1996 Pastel on paper painting Hand signed and dated by Wolf Kahn on the lower right Frame included: matted and framed in a wood frame with UV plexiglass This u...

Wolf Kahn Bay with Boats, 1987 Color monotype on Somerset white wove paper Hand signed and dated by Wolf Kahn on the lower right front, bears labels on the back Frame Included: matte...

Abstract drawing of a blue house in a yellow field by German-American painter, Wolf Kahn. Signed and dated by the artist in the lower right corner. Framed and matted in a silver wood...

Wolf Kahn (hand signed by Wolf Kahn), 2011 Hardback monograph with dust jacket (hand signed by Wolf Kahn) Hand signed by Wolf Kahn on the title page 13 × 12 × 1 1/2 inches This gorge...

Wolf Kahn Wolf Kahn's America (Hand signed and inscribed), 2003 Hand signed and dedicated hardback monograph with dust jacket Boldly signed in ink with heartfelt personal dedication ...

Wolf Kahn was commissioned by the Smithsonian to design a postcard for them. He made four designs and they selected a singular one. This drawing here is one of the few rejected designs. This piece was given to the founder, David Barnett, of the David Barnett Gallery...

Wolf Kahn Untitled, 1982 Original Etching 10 × 15 inches Edition AP (aside from the regular edition of 90) pencil signed, dated and inscribed to Cynthia Frame included: Ships framed ...

"Umbria" is a landscape pastel by American artist Wolf Kahn. Green hills and trees dominate the composition as a light blue sky evens it out almost exactly in the middle. Titled and ...

Wolf Kahn Red Edge, 1998 Pastel on paper 22 1/2 x 30 inches 57.2 x 76.2 cm Signed: "W Kahn" (lower center recto) -- Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1927, Wolf Kahn fled Nazi Germany ...

Wolf Kahn Dark Diagonal, 1979 Pastel on paper 22 3/8 x 30 inches 56.8 x 76.2 cm Signed: "W Kahn" (lower right recto) -- Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1927, Wolf Kahn fled Nazi Germ...

WOLF KAHN Rising Road Behind Trees, 2005 Pastel on paper 19 3/4 x 25 inches 50.2 x 63.5 cm Signed: "W Kahn" (lower left recto) Color-field landscape painting of trees against a brig...

WOLF KAHN Ochre and White, 2009 Oil on canvas 14 x 22 inches 35.6 x 55.9 cm Signed: "W Kahn" (lower left recto) Abstract painting of a house within the woods against an ochre landsc...

WOLF KAHN Landscape of a Strange Green Color, 1999 Oil on canvas 22 x 32 inches 55.9 x 81.3 cm Signed: "W Kahn" (lower left recto) Color-field landscape p...

WOLF KAHN Gray Foliage, 2007 Pastel on paper 19 x 25 inches 48.3 x 63.5 cm Color-field landscape painting of trees against a light orange by Wolf Kahn. -- Born in Stuttgart, Germ...