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Wolf Kahn Bio, Age, Family, Wife, Paintings, Exhibitions, Pastels, and Net Worth.

Wolf Kahn Biography

Wolf Kahn is a German-born American painter born on 4th October 1927 in Stuttgart, Germany. He is known for his combination of Realism and Color Field, works in pastel and oil paint.

Kahn has stated that he began drawing at the age of four and during the summer of his 11th birthday, in 1937, his mother signed him up for private art lessons with Miss von Joeden. He was inspired by military pageantry, Napoleonic Wars and prominent historical figures including Adolph Menzel and Frederick the Great. Wolf Kahn Bio, Age, Family, Wife, Paintings, Exhibitions, Pastels, and Net Worth.

At the age of 12, in 1939, his grandmother arranged for him to leave Germany for England to live with a host family, first with the John Wade family and then with the Purvis Family. In 1940 at the age of 13 he was able to reunite with his family in New York City as quotas for immigrant applications in the United States changed.

10 Quick Facts About Wolf Kahn

  1. Name: Wolf Kahn

  2. Age: 91 years as of 2018
  3. Birthday: 4 October
  4. Zodiac Sign: Libra
  5. Height: Average
  6. Nationality: German
  7. Occupation: Painter
  8. Marital Status: Married
  9. Salary: Under review
  10. Net worth: $1.5 Million

Wolf Kahn Age

Wolf was born on 4th October 1927 in Stuttgart, Germany (91 years as of 2018).

Wolf Kahn Education

Kahn was accepted for his sophomore year at the High School of Music and Art in New York City in 1942 graduating in 1945. He joined the Navy for one year at the time of the GI Bill and studied with renowned teacher and Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hoffman with time he became Hofmann’s studio assistant. In 1950 he joined the University of Chicagoan graduating in 1951.

Wolf Kahn Family

Kahn was born to Emil and Nellie Budge Kahn as their fourth child. His father was a musician, composer, conductor, and teacher. He lost his appointment with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra in 1993 when Hitler came to power and there was an increase in antisemitism sweeping Germany. He left Germany for the United States with his second wife and Kahn’s three siblings. Kahn was sent to live with his grandmother, Anna Kahn, in Frankfurt, Germany, at the age of three.

Wolf Kahn Wife

In 1957 Wolf married Emily Mason, who is also an American abstract painter known for her work in color field painting and lyrical abstraction.

Wolf Kahn Children

Khan and Emily have two daughters, Cecily and Melany. Cecily Khan is also an artist and is married to painter David Kapp.

Wolf Kahn Career

Kahn together with other former Hofmann students established the Hansa Gallery, a cooperative gallery where Kahn had his first solo exhibition. He later joined the Grace Borgenicht Gallery in 1956 where he exhibited regularly until 1995. He received a Fulbright Scholarship, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Award in Art from the Academy of Arts and Letters.

Having traveled extensively, he has painted landscapes in Egypt, Greece, Hawaii, Italy, Kenya, Maine, Mexico, and New Mexico. In summers and autumns khan spent his time in Vermont on a hillside farm, which he and his wife, the painter Emily Mason,

The uniqueness blending of Realism and formal discipline of Color Field painting sets his work apart. He is an artist who embodies a synthesis of artistic traits – the modern abstract training of Hans Hofmann, the palette of Matisse, Rothko’s sweeping bands of color, and the atmospheric qualities of American Impressionism. The link of color, spontaneity and representation has produced a rich and expressive body of work.

Wolf Kahn Paintings

Kahn paintings have a unique blend of Realism and formal discipline of Color Field painting. He embodies a synthesis of artistic traits – the modern abstract training of Hans Hofmann, the palette of Matisse, Rothko’s sweeping bands of color, and the atmospheric qualities of American Impressionism. The fusion of color, spontaneity and representation has produced a rich and expressive body of work.

Having traveled extensively he has painted landscapes in Egypt, Greece, Hawaii, Italy, Kenya, Maine, Mexico, and New Mexico.

In the late 1960s, Kahn began his signature landscapes which are grounded in the ethos of his Vermont farm: weathered barns and undulating pastures and tree lines, revealing a spare yet evocative New England aesthetic.

His work attempts to harness the energy of the human-nature interaction and prefers not to overthink the psychological meaning of his paintings. “I think the more you concentrate on factors other than emotional content in your paintings, the better off you are,” he has said. “Nature and the artist’s feelings are merely the raw materials.”

Wolf Kahn Museum Collections

His work can be found in numerous museum collections including:

  • Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

  • Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
  • Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • Colby College Museum of Art
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
  • Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA
  • National Academy Museum, New York, NY
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
  • National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
  • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
  • Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

Wolf Kahn Exhibitions

He regularly exhibits at galleries and museums across North America.

2010

Re-fractions of Light, Paintings and Pastels, Tayloepiggott Gallery, Jackson, USA (solo)

2009

  • Pastels, Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, USA (solo)
  • Paintings and Pastels, Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, D.C. (solo)

  • Toward The Larger View: A Painter’s Process, Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe , New York, USA (solo)

2007

  • Yosemite – Art of an American Icon, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, USA
  • Sizing Up: Part II Pastels, Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, New York, USA (solo)
  • Celebrating 80 Years, Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, USA (solo)
  • Sizing Up: Part I Paintings – Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe , New York, USA (solo)
  • Home Turf, Mulry Fine Art, West Palm Beach, USA

  • Back to the Future: Contemporary American Art from the Collection, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, USA

2006

  • Color & Light – Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, USA (solo)
  • Vision in Granite, The Banks Gallery, Portsmouth, USA
  • The John and Mary Lou Paxton Collection, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, USA
  • Wolf Kahn’s Barns, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, USA (solo)

2005

  • Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe , New York, USA (solo)

  • Summertime Pastels, Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, USA (solo)
  • Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper, Forum Gallery – Los Angeles, USA
  • The Monoprint in Three Directions, Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, USA

2004

  • Art In The New Us Embassy In Bulgaria, Sofia Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • Wolf Kahn’s America An Artist’s Travels, Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, USA

2003

  • Continuity & Change, Paintings and Works on Paper 1958 – 66, Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, New York, USA (solo)

2002

  • At Seventy-Five, Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, USA (solo)

2001

  • Invited! Works on Paper – First Street Gallery, New York, USA

2000

  • Fifty Years of Pastels – Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, USA

1999

  • Southern Landscapes, Morris Museum of Art Augusta, USA (solo)

1998

  • Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection fr. National Museum, The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, USA

1996

  • Boca Raton Museum of Art Boca Raton, USA
  • Rediscovering the Landscapes of the Americas, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, USA (traveled)

Wolf Kahn Publications

  1. 2015, McAgee, William C. (New York)
  2. 2013, Kahn, Wolf, and Nicholas Delbanco. (New York)
  3. 2011, Spring, Justin, Karen Wilkin, and Louis Finkelstein. (New York: Abrams)
  4. 2010, Kahn, Wolf, and Chrinstina Kee. Wolf Kahn: Color & Consequence. (New York)
  5. 2010, Kahn, Wolf. (Montreal: Galerie De Bellefeuille,)
  6. 2007, Kahn, Wolf, and Karen Wilkin. Wolf Kahn: Sizing up. (New York, NY)
  7. 2004, Kahn, Wolf, and Elizabeth Frank. (New York)
  8. 2003, Kahn, Wolf and John Updike, Wolf Kahn’s America: An Artist’s Travels. (New York: Abrams)
  9. 2002, Kahn, Wolf, and David Cohen. March 8-27, 2002. (New York: Beadleston Gallery)
  10. 2002. (New York: Beadleston Gallery)
  11. 1999, Gruber, Richard J., and Wolf Kahn. Wolf Kahn: Painting the South. (Augusta, GA: Morris Museum of Art)
  12. 1996, Spring, Justin, and Louis Finkelstein. (New York: Harry N. Abrams)
  13. 1993, Kahn, Wolf. (Naples, FL: Philharmonic Center for the Arts)
  14. 1993, Kahn, Wolf. (Boston: Thomas Segal Gallery)
  15. 1991, Kahn, Wolf, and Robert P. Conway. (New York: Associated American Artists)
  16. 1989, Kahn, Wolf. Kahn: New Work, 1987–1989. (New York: Grace Borgenicht Gallery)
  17. 1988, Kahn, Wolf.Kahn: New Landscapes. (Santa Fe, NM: Gerald Peters Gallery)
  18. 1987, Kahn, Wolf, and Cynthia Goodman. Paintings. (New York: Gallery)
  19. 1983, Kahn, Wolf. Landscapes. (San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art)
  20. 1980, Kahn, Wolf. (London: The Galleries)
  21. 1971, Kahn, Wolf. (New York: Grace Borgenicht Gallery)

Wolf Kahn Awards

He has received different awards, like the recently he received an award initiated by the Art in This award was recently US Department of State program to acknowledge artists whose work has played an instrumental role in promoting creativity and understanding in support of American diplomacy. Wolf Khan other awards were as listed below.

  • 2006, Lifetime Achievement Award, Wheaton College
  • 2000, Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, Wheaton College
  • 1998, Lifetime Achievement Award, Vermont Council of the Arts
  • 1979, Award in Art, American Academy of Arts and Letters
  • 1966, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
  • 1962, Fulbright Scholar

Wolf Kahn Social Media Contacts

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