Picturing Places and Spaces

A line of tall pine trees occupies the middle ground, and a bright blue haze obscures the hilly, forested area behind them. A flash of yellow suggests light falling on the forest floor, and the immediate foreground is captured by a strip of bright green color. Kahn is best known as a painter, but he also created prints like this silkscreen image which is a "working print" in a small edition of thirteen. The gestural strokes used for the trees and the application of color in the foreground replicate the style of his paintings. Kahn had residences in New York City and in Brattleboro Maine, and he also traveled extensively. In artworks produced during these trips, he often chose compositions much like the pared down one of Dark Pines. Kahn never lingers on details, but his areas of color convey the light and atmosphere of the scene whether he is depicting a forest in Amherst, in Yosemite National Park, or in Midland, Michigan.

Wolf Kahn was born in Stuttgart, Germany, but in 1939 was sent to England with a children's refugee transport because of the rise of Nazism. In 1940 he traveled to the United States to join his family. He attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City, and after graduating in 1945, he served in the United States Navy. Kahn returned to New York to study art and spent two years in the school started by Hans Hofmann, an important teacher and artist associated with the development of Abstract Expressionism in the United States.