Leo Kahn was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

-Israeli painter,

Biography

Kahn was born in 1894 in Bruchsal

Bruchsal

Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He served in the German army in 1914, then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

 between 1919-1920 under the tutelage of Albert Hueinsen. Kahn travelled to Berlin (where he met and befriended Max Liebermann

Max Liebermann

Max Liebermann was a German-Jewish painter and printmaker best known for his etching and lithography.-Biography:...

), Holland, and France in search of artistic inspiration. In 1926, he was commissioned for the decoration of an important synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 in Bruchsal. Kahn exhibited in Karlsruhe, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Ulm

Ulm

Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...

, Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, and Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. In 1928, Kahn lived in the south of France where he befriended the important Fauve

Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...

 artist André Derain

André Derain

André Derain was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.-Early years:...

. He then moved to Paris where he maintained a studio until 1934.

Kahn emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1936, settled in Ramat Gan and founded Israel's first textile printing factory.

In 1960, he moved to Safed

Safed

Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...

's Artist Colony.

He is primarily remembered as a landscape, still life and portrait artist, and the influence of Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...

 is deeply felt in his work.

Awards and honours

• In 1950, Kahn participated in the Venice Biennale
  Venice Biennale
  The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
  
  .
• In 1957, he was a co-recipient of the Dizengoff Prize
  Dizengoff Prize
  The Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture is awarded annually by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality since 1937.The following is a table of Dizengoff Prize laureates in their respective art form:...
  
  for Painting.
• In 1982, he was made Worthy of the City of Ramat Gan.

Selected exhibitions

• 2008/2009: Bruchsal, Townhall, Die entscheidende Tat des Malers Leo Kahn: Erinnerung an den Künstler der Bruchsaler Synagogenausmalung
• 2001: Museum of the Holocaust, Los Angeles: Kaleidoscope: Works From the Collection of David Malek
• 1981: Ulmer Museum, Germany (major retrospective)

Selected collections

• Israel Museum, Jerusalem
• Museum of the History of Lodz, Poland
• Tel-Aviv Museum of Art

Further reading

• Der Maler Leo Kahn, 1894-1983. Schönaich: G. Albert, 1986.
• Nobis, Norbert & Brigitte Kühn. Leo Kahn: Retrospektive [exhibition catalogue]. Ulm: Ulmer Museum, 1981.
• Siegel, Linda. Kaleidoscope: From Auschwitz to Art Connoisseur: The Story of the David Malek Collection (Featuring the Paintings of Leo Kahn, Samuel Tepler & Piero Cividalli) [exhibition catalogue]. Oak Park, CA: Elra Press, 2001.

External links

• Signum Foundation (Leo Kahn)
• Artnet.com (Leo Kahn)