We recently spoke with Mr. Kahn, 82, from his studio in New York City.
In 1947, Kahn was studying at the New School with another art world giant, Stuart Davis. Not enjoying his time with this “terrible teacher”, Kahn was persuaded by his older brother, the landscape artist Peter Kahn, to join him at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts. After studying with Hofmann in Provincetown for the summer, Kahn opened his first exhibition, at the Seligmann Gallery, entitled “New Provincetown”.
During the years 1948 and 1949, Kahn served as studio assistant to Mr. Hofmann, stretching canvases, building frames and doing general assistant duties. Fairly inexperienced and quite young at the time, Kahn admitted that most of his knowledge came from “on the job training”.
Mr. Kahn, whose memory appears to be that of a man half his age, shared a story about Hofmann from his studio assistant days. According to Kahn, Hofmann used “a lot of cheap paint”. He would take a large tube of paint, cut off the larger end and squeeze it all out onto the canvas. At the end of the day, if he wasn’t happy with the results, he would direct Kahn to scrape the paint from the canvas onto wax paper. After scraping the multiple colors all together, the jumbled glob would end up resembling a color Kahn describes as “calf-shit brown”. Not knowing what to do with this paint, he approached Hofmann and asked if he should discard it. Hofmann, in his thick German accent replied, “Tomorrow I will use the brown as contrast. It will be my scheisse.”
When asked about his opinion of Hofmann’s work and influence all these years later, Kahn stated that while one might not look at his work and see a direct connection to Hofmann, his “sense of color” certainly has something to do with their time together. “His work was harsh and severe and lacked a sensuousness that I have tried to put into my work”, said Kahn. But this was not a criticism of Hofmann. When asked if he could remember anything that Hofmann would often say, Kahn responded instantly. “He would always say that he was ‘trying to expand his mode of expression’”.
In 1949, after suffering “a crisis about being an artist”, Kahn left and enrolled at the University of Chicago. One year later, Hofmann would create the works featured in this exhibition. Kahn and Hofmann stayed in touch, often meeting in Washington Square Park near Hofmann’s home for lengthy discussions about art and life. Though by the time of Hofmann’s death in 1966, the two had lost touch. Throughout our discussion, Kahn often referred to Hofmann as a “great man”, stating that he was “born knowing more than I could ever learn.” If that was in fact the case, it’s no surprise that Hofmann became such a renowned teacher.
For more on our upcoming exhibition, Hans Hofmann: Circa 1950, click HERE.
