Louis Kahan
Louis Kahan
Fishing, 1997
Louis Kahan (1905- 2002)
etching ed. 8/21
28.5 x 34.5cm (frame: 57 x 60cm)
editioned, titled, signed, and dated below image
$450 (framed)
enquire:
simon@ensemblefineart.com.au
0419 540 162
Louis Kahan (AO) was born in Vienna, Austria. After training as a tailor Kahan moved to Paris, where he worked for the couturier Paul Poiret, first as a tailor and then a designer. In 1939, he enlisted in the Foreign Legion; as the war progressed, he worked for the American Red Cross, making thousands of portraits of wounded servicemen in French and American hospitals in North Africa. After the war he returned to Paris and worked as an illustrator for Le Figaro, but in 1947 he came to Australia. He settled in Melbourne in 1950. Soon after he arrived the editor of Meanjin asked him to make a series of pen and ink portraits of writers for the journal. His talent for portraiture soon became highly recognized. In 1952 he won the Archibald Prize with a portrait of Patrick White.
Louis Kahan is represented in the collections of most major Australian art galleries including the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of Queensland as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Musee de Art Moderno de la Ville de Paris, France and the Dunedin art Gallery, New Zealand.