Miriam Cahn

Miriam Cahn (born July 21, 1949) is a Swiss painter.
Biography
Cahn was born on July 21, 1949 in Basel, Switzerland. She studied at Schule für Gestaltung Basel in Basel from 1968 to 1973, where she became involved with feminist and anti-nuclear movements. Cahn is of Jewish ancestry
Work
Cahn's paintings and drawings incorporate feminism and child endangerment themes, female rituals; often featuring "violent and shocking representations of sexual organs". They are often created using unorthodox methods. Cahn's first exhibition was Being a Women in My Public Role in 1979. Cahn's first exhibition in the United States was at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York City, in 2011. Cahn's work has described as having Neo-Expressionist influences.
Reception and Awards
Jörg Scheller describes Cahn as a "feminist who likes to fight." Her work has been the source of some controversy, including in 2023, when several French far-right associations petitioned to have Cahn's fuck abstraction! removed from the "My Serial Thought" show at the Palais de Tokyo, claiming the painting depicted "pedo-pornographic" material. France's State Council rejected the appeal and allowed the painting, which abstractly depicted the Bucha massacre by Russian troops.
In 1998, Cahn won the Käthe Kollwitz Prize awarded by the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
Collections
Cahn’s works can be found in numerous art collections around the world, among others at MoMA in New York, at the Tate Modern in London, at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Exhibitions
Individual exhibitions
Miriam CAHN: Ma pensée serielle, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2023
Miriam Cahn: ME AS HAPPENING, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), 2020–21
Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2019
Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2019
Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2019
everything is equally important, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2019
DAS GENAUE HINSCHAUEN, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2019
ICH ALS MENSCH, Kunstmuseum Bern, 2019
devoir-aimer, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, 2017
mare nostrum, Meyer Riegger, Berlin, 2016
Lachen bei gefahr, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, 2012
Sarajevo, Stampa, Basel, 1993
Stampa, Basel, 1994
Nachkrieg-Vorkrieg (Was Fehlt), Stampe, Basel, 1992
Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, 1995
Verwandschaften, Galerie Espace, Amsterdam, 1991
Verwandschaften, Stampa, Basel, 1990
Verwandschaften, Art Frankfurt, 1990
Verwandschaften, Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1990
Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1988
Van de Loo, Munich, 1988
Lesen in Staub, Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, 1988
Lesen in Staub, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, 1988
Lesen in Staub/Weibliche Monate, Kunstverein Hannover, 1988
Musée Rath, Geneva, 1988
Lesen in Staub/Strategische Orte, Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf, 1987
Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, 1987
Galerie Vorsetzen, Hamberg, 1987
Stampa, Basel, 1987
Strategische Orte, DAAD, Berlin, 1986
Strategische Orte, Stampa, Basel, 1986
Strategische Orte, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, and Kunstmuseum, Bonn, 1985
Strategische Orte, Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1985
Das Klassische Lieben, Musée la Chaux-de-Fonds, 1984
Das Klassische Lieben, Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna, 1984
Das Klassische Lieben, Stampa, Basel, 1984
Das Klassische Lieben, Kunsthalle Basel, 1983
Wach Raum 1, Konrad Fischer, Zurich, 1982
Stampa, Basel, 1977, 1979, 1981
Selected group exhibitions
Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany, 2017
21st Sydney Biennal, 2018
Prière de toucher – Le tactile dans l‘art, Museum Tinguely, Basel, 2016
Module mai, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2010
Sammlung Van de Loo, Neue National galerie Berlin, 2004
Where Is Abel, Your Brother?, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, 1995
From Beyond the Pale, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 1994
Centre d'Art Contemporian, Geneva, 1994
Zur Sache Selbst, Künstlerinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts Museum, Wiesbaden, 1990
Triennal de Dibuix, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1989
Sydney Biennal, 1986
Crosscurrents in Swiss Art, Serpentine Gallery, London, 1984
Documenta, Kassel, Germany, 1982
Feministische Kunst International, Frauenzimmer, Basel, 1979
Claudia Martínez Garay and Miriam Cahn: Ten Thousand Things, Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2020
References
Further reading
Schmetterling, Astrid. "Cahn, Miriam." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed February 18, 2012; subscription required).
ed. Marta Dziewańska. "MIRIAM CAHN: I AS HUMAN". Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2019).
External links
Entry for Miriam Cahn on the Union List of Artist Names.
Cahn's Collections at Cura Magazine
1949 births
Living people
20th-century Swiss painters
21st-century Swiss painters
20th-century Swiss women artists
21st-century Swiss women artists
Swiss contemporary artists
Swiss Jews
Artists from Basel-Stadt
Swiss women painters
Feminist artists
Neo-expressionist artists