“Keep the childlike vision and remain true to your ideas.”
-Wolf Kahn
Art in Action started a brand new winter term this week embracing the cold weather with our winter forest scene at sunrise. Students were inspired by German-born American painter Wolf Kahn. Wolf Kahn was born on October 4th 1927 in Germany and began drawing at the age of four. At the age of twelve, in 1940 he moved to New York City. He attended the High School of Music and Art and studied under the abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann at the Hans Hofmann School. He became Hofmann’s studio assistant before he began his own art career. His wife Emily Mason is also a painter, and they have two daughters, Cecily and Melany. Cecily Kahn is also an artist and is married to the painter David Kapp.
Wolf Kahn is known for his work in pastels and oil paint. He combines realism landscapes with Colour Field theory. It is said that Kahn is an artist “who embodies the synthesis of his modern abstract training with Hans Hofmann, with the palette of Matisse, Rothko’s sweeping bands of color, and the atmospheric qualities of American Impressionism. It is precisely this fusion of color, spontaneity and representation that has produced such a rich and expressive body of work.” He has travelled extensively, painting the landscapes of Egypt, Greece, Hawaii, Italy, Kenya, Mexico and New Mexico. He currently lives in New York City and during the summer and autumn he lives on a hillside farm in Vermont.
Students created their own winter burst of sunlight with chalk pastels, oil pastels and acrylic paint. Students added shadows to really capture the light. Take a look at a few more examples…. Well done everyone!
I just love how the paintings glow in the dappled sunlight.