Wolf Kahn German-American, 1927-2020

A second-generation New York School artist, Wolf Kahn was known for luminous, lyrical paintings of forests and farmlands that combined realism with the immediacy of Abstract Expressionism. Kahn’s signature landscapes took inspiration from the palettes of Henri Matisse and the ethos of his Vermont farm: He painted weathered barns, undulating pastures, and tree lines that embraced a spare, evocative New England aesthetic.

Kahn studied under Hans Hofmann and cited Mark Rothko, J.M.W. Turner, and Pierre Bonnard as additional influences. He worked intuitively, refusing to overthink any psychological underpinnings in his paintings. Today, Kahn’s work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among other institutions (via Artsy).