Signed lower left: Wolf Kahn

Meredith Long and Company, Houston, Texas; Private collection.

Wolf Kahn (American, 1927-2020) Small Beaver Pond, 1974 Oil on canvas 14-1/2 x 22 inches (36.8 x 55.9 cm) Signed lower left: Wolf Kahn Titled and inscribed on the stretcher: Small Beaver Pond / G14502 Dated and inscribed on the reverse: #87 1974 PROVENANCE: Meredith Long and Company, Houston, Texas; Private collection. Wolf Kahn's Small Beaver Pond is a vivid exploration of color, form, and abstraction, embodying a synthesis of elements that define his unique artistic sensibility. This oil painting, composed of luminous, contrasting hues, demonstrates Kahn's deep engagement with the American landscape, while drawing from European colorist traditions and American Abstract Expressionism. Painted during a time when many artists leaned toward either extreme realism or pure abstraction, Kahn forged a middle path—retaining a recognizable connection to nature while distorting and elevating it through color and emotion. Born in Stuttgart in 1927, Kahn fled Nazi Germany as a child and eventually settled in the United States. His artistic development was shaped by Hans Hofmann, a renowned teacher whose theories on abstraction and color—particularly his notion of "push and pull"—left an indelible mark on Kahn. Hofmann's concept, where colors and forms create simultaneous movement within a composition, is evident in Kahn's landscapes, including Small Beaver Pond. His landscapes maintain an Expressionist spirit, but with a contemplative precision that sets them apart from the aggressive spontaneity of his contemporaries. By 1974, when Small Beaver Pond was painted, Kahn had delved deeply into landscape painting. His treatment of these scenes was far from conventional. Rather than focusing on topographical accuracy, Kahn was interested in the transformative power of color. In the present work, the landscape serves as a framework to explore the emotional and atmospheric possibilities of his palette. The pond, rendered in a striking, almost unnatural blue, dominates the lower portion of the painting, juxtaposed against a vivid yellow band suggesting a meadow, with deep reds and purples forming the distant trees. The forms are stripped to their essentials, emphasizing color over detail. Kahn's genius lies in his ability to evoke place and mood through color alone. The electric blue of the water and the warmth of the surrounding land create a tension that mirrors the subtle changes of nature—perhaps the shift from late autumn to early winter, when the landscape is alive with the last bursts of color before the chill sets in. His choice of hues transcends representation, using the landscape as a vehicle for emotional resonance. The brushwork in Small Beaver Pond recalls the techniques of the Abstract Expressionists, though employed with restraint. Broad, gestural strokes suggest wind or the subtle flicker of light on the water's surface, imbuing the landscape with a dynamic presence. The painting captures not just a scene, but a moment in time, filtered through Kahn's emotional response to the natural world. Despite its abstraction, Small Beaver Pond remains anchored in reality. This duality—between abstraction and representation—is central to Kahn's work. The scene is recognizable, yet simplified, reduced to elemental geometry. The viewer is left to navigate between the real and the abstract, engaging not just the eye but the intellect. This interplay between form and color challenges traditional landscape painting while inviting contemplation of how these elements transform our understanding of nature. Kahn's landscapes differ from the grandiosity of the Hudson River School or the serene idylls of the American Impressionists. His work is more introspective, emotionally charged, and focused on distilling the essence of place, mood, and seasonality. Small Beaver Pond is not about capturing wilderness grandeur but rather about reflecting the experience of being in nature—how light shifts, how colors bleed into one another, and how a simple pond becomes a site of reflection. In Small Beaver Pond, Kahn offers multiple ways to engage—with the landscape, the formal qualities of color and composition, and the emotional undercurrents of his work. This layering of meaning gives the painting its lasting power, inviting viewers to return and discover new depths with each encounter. It bridges the gap between the naturalism of traditional landscape painting and the emotional intensity of modern abstraction, standing as a testament to Kahn's ability to fuse these traditions into something wholly his own. This work will be included in the Wolf Kahn Foundation's Catalogue Raisonné Project of the artist's work and is accompanied by a letter of acceptance issued by the Wolf Kahn Foundation. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Unlined canvas. Under UV exam, there does not appear to be retouching. Vertical white translucent accretion in the center of the composition. Faint hairline craquelure visible in the maroon pigment. Framed Dimensions 21 X 29 Inches