Study for Sfumatura, 1970 By Wolf Kahn

Pastel on Paper

14 × 17 in | 35.6 × 43.2 cm

Frame included Unique work

US$35,750

About the work

Framed by the artist. This pastel was a study for his larger oil on linen painting, Sfumatura (1978); it depicts the view from the front of Kahn’s farmhouse in Brattleboro, VT, looking north, down the hill. Almost all of Wolf Kahn’s oil paintings are scaled up versions of an earlier pastel.Materials

Pastel on PaperSize

14 × 17 in | 35.6 × 43.2 cmRarity

UniqueMedium

Drawing, Collage or other Work on PaperSignature

Hand-signed by artist, Bottom LeftFrame Included

By

Wolf Kahn

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.