Wolf Kahn was known for his bright palette and his study of fog-shrouded mornings, tangled forests, and solitary barns that incorporated elements of Color Field and abstraction. His wife was the painter Emily Mason.

 

Born in Germany, Kahn fled the Nazis on one the Kindertransporten that saved young Jewish children.  He made his way to the U.S. and began to study with Hans Hofmann. He had his first solo show in 1953. A NYT review of his work said   "Kahn is a high-spirited, lyrical artist who paints the way he does because a leonine manner seems to fit exactly his response to what he sees."

 

Kahn and Mason began to spend summers and falls in Vermont in 1968, and Kahn found inspiration in the bucolic scenes.  These would become his signature works.

 

His works seem to radiate light, an intensity created by building up layers with intensive brushwork.  The luminosity of these works can be simultaneously comforting and assertive.

 

Kahn's work can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, the Hirshhorn, the Met, the Whitney and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among others.

 

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