Oral history interview with Wolf Kahn
odd: label: General
content: Sound quality is poor.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Kahn, Wolf, 1927-2020
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
topic: label: Topic
content: Painting, American
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Kahn, Wolf, 1927-2020
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Wolf Kahn (1927-2020) was a painter from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Sound tape reels (Sound recording, 5 in.)
label: Extent
content: 169 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1977 Nov. 28-1978 Jan. 6
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.kahn77
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound tape reels
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Interview with Wolf Kahn, conducted by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in his New York City studio, on November 28, 1977 and January 16, 1978.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Kahn speaks of being raised by his grandparents in Germany in the 1930s; coming to England via the children's transport prior to the outbreak of World War II; emigrating to the US after the war; joining the Navy; his art classes at the Hofmann School; his early exhibitions in New York and involvement at the Hansa Gallery; living in Oregon; his artistic influences, including Bonnard, Van Gogh, Kokoschka, and Soutine; the New York art scene in the 1950s, including at the Artists' Club; meeting his wife Emily; the change in his style after visiting Venice; his use of colors and pastels; exhibiting at Grace Borgenicht's Gallery; his experiences teaching art at Haystack and other schools; the idea of the "problem" in formalist art; his working methods; and his impressions of contemporary art and art students. Kahn also recalls Barnett Newman, Meyer Schapiro, Franz Klein, Willem de Kooning, Stuart Davis, Hans Hofmann, Joan Mitchell, Felix Pasilis, Clement Greenberg, Stefan Wolpe, Allan Kaprow, Fairfield Porter, Tom Hess, Richard Bellamy, Grace Borgenicht, Frank O'Hara, Milton Avery, Jim Dine, and others.