20 West 57th Street New York, New York 10019tel: 212 445 0051 fax: 212 445 0102 www.ameringer-yohe.com

23 April – 5 June 2009

WOLF KAHNToward the Larger View: A Painter’s Process

TOWArd THe LArger VieW: A PAiNTer’s PrOcess

What you see is a process, which starts from small pastel sketches and

drives toward eventual large-scale oil paintings. This activity may clarify, or

complicate, the result. A change of scale opens up new possibilities, often

allowing greater freedom of execution. Sometimes color and tone are

pushed to their extreme. I feel a pressure to extend limitations (although

old habits may sometimes interfere).

Each set of images is accompanied by a narrative — what was on my mind, what sur-prised me in the process, what held me back. I attempted to be as open as each situation allowed so that the viewer

could be a companion and accomplice in each of these adventures.

Wolf Kahn

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eArLY sUMMer PAiNTiNg

In the pastel that initiates this series, I recognized a balance between the

whites in the lower left and the orange band on the middle right. Over

time, this orange started to look too pretty and predictable. I determined

to push for greater severity. The image became more and more suffused

with white and quite ambiguous spatially. White became the principal subject of the final painting.

Study for “Early Summer Painting”, 2008, pastel on paper, 1� x 17 inches �

Early Summer Painting, 2008, oil on canvas, 22 x 2� inches�

Springtime Tangle, 2008, oil on canvas, 3� x 3� inches 7

Early Summer Painting, 2008, oil on canvas, �2 x �� inches8

LigHT BLUe HOriZON

Just to show how useful it is to paint from simple observations, we have

here a view of the Connecticut River in the evening, when the sun leaves

one shore in deep shadow while bathing the other in brilliant evening light.

In value, one shore connects with the sky, the opposite one with the water.

The challenge here is to let neither predomi-nate, so that the inevitable contrast between sky and land is shared between two entities.

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Small Study for “Blue at the Horizon” I, 2008, pastel on paper, 7 x 81/2 inches Small Study for “Blue at the Horizon” II, 2008, pastel on paper, 7 x 81/2 inches

Small Study for “Blue at the Horizon” III, 2008, pastel on paper, 7 x 81/2 inches Small Study for “Blue at the Horizon” IV, 2008, pastel on paper, 7 x 81/2 inches 11

Study for “Light Blue Horizon”, 2008, pastel on paper, 17 x 2� inches12

Study for “Light Blue Horizon”, 2008, oil on canvas, 22 x 30 inches 13

Light Blue Horizon, 2008, oil on canvas, �2 x �� inches1�

First Study for “Orange Foreground”, 2008, pastel on paper, 8 x 10 inches

OrANge FOregrOUNd

This image of an orchard is reminiscent of

sketches I made a few years ago of macadamia

nut orchards in Hawaii and relies on memory

rather than direct observation of nature.

The transition from the small pastel to the painting involves increasing simplification and coloristic intensification. In the

final oil, the orange of the foreground is less

subtle than that in the pastels. But it was forced

upon me since a more transparent orange could

not support the weight of the green and black

above it. About ten layers of bright orange,

yellow and red were required to achieve the

proper density, and it took three weeks.

1�

First Sketch for “Orange Foreground”, 2008, pastel on paper, 9 x 12 inches 17

Study for “Orange Foreground”, 2008, pastel on paper, 22 x 30 inches18

Orange Foreground, 2008, oil on canvas, 32 x �0 inches 19

dUNKLee BArN

These attached barns in Dummerston, Vermont, belong to the Dunklees,

who are free of the deplorable but widespread obligation whereby every-

thing around structures has to be spruced up and “landscaped.” Instead,

the Dunklee place has a picturesque informality—not to say untidiness—

which provides a variety of textures and colors. I discovered there that the sky is blue, really blue, and that grass, rather than green, is likely to be grayish or ochre, if observed carefully. Careful

observation leads the artist to invent colors to correspond with each area

of the painting rather than following preconceived notions, or reading what

the paint tube has printed on its label.

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Large Barn on the Dunklee Farm, 2007, pastel on paper, 1� x 17 inches On the Dunklee Farm, 2007, pastel on paper, 1� x 17 inches

Lester Dunklee’s Barn, 2007, pastel on paper, 12 x 18 inches Dunklee’s Barn in Perspective, 2007, pastel on paper, 1� x 17 inches 21

Dunklee Barn, 2007, oil on canvas, �2 x �2 inches22

Chaotic, 2007, pastel on paper, 11 x 1� inches

TONes OF sPriNg

I have long sketched ordinary woodland scenes

in ways that allowed me to contrast very opaque with very transparent penetrations of deep space.

I have also used variations of color and texture

to define these places more accurately.

A year or so ago, I visited friends in Clinton, New

Jersey, who have a property which still sports some

quite unkempt and weedy sections of woods. I

decided to document with a pastel the near-chaotic

disposition of elements. As I worked toward the

final painting, I became more and more aware of

the special light emanating from a kind of a clearing

in the middle of the woods. This reminded me of

the illuminated center of 17th century landscapes

(especially Claude Lorrain) and through a number

of works this center translated into strong yellows

and whites and became the focus of the painting.

2�

Neglected, 2007, pastel on paper, 1� x 17 inches 2�

Tones of Spring, 2008, oil on canvas, 70 x 90 inches 2�

driVeWAY WiTH LOcUsTs

How to integrate the forward trees on the left with the row of trees along

the driveway? This was the most difficult problem to solve in this series.

In the pastel, the foreground trees are too isolated. In the final painting,

I was able to integrate the trees by darkening not only them, but the

whole left side of the picture.

The presence of fog allowed me to concen-trate on small contrasts to describe how the driveway moved away from my location. Whenever possible, I am happier to derive the structure of a painting from

observation of nature rather than to depend upon a preconceived notion

of natural happenings.

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Driveway Fog, 2007, pastel on paper, 12 x 18 inches 29

Foggy Driveway, 2008, pastel on paper, 22 x 30 inches30

Summer Fog, 2008, oil on canvas, 18 x 20 inches 31

Driveway with Locusts, 2008, oil on canvas, �0 x �2 inches32

BArN iN THe cOrNer

This series is a total invention. To work calligraphically in a predominantly

dark context allows for a great deal of contrast and generates new color

combinations. I introduce green with trepidation as I do not want that color

to be more than a gentle hint. Otherwise, the viewer would inevitably think

of 19th century Impressionism to which my work has often been incorrectly

related. I do start from nature and use “broken” brush strokes, but in

everything else I depart from impressionistic practice. I feel more related

to Abstract Expressionism, which was part of my artistic upbringing, and

I like the idea that one should drive toward spontaneity as a painter, rather than follow preset agendas.

3�

Study for “Filled with Foliage”, 2008, pastel on paper, 12 x 18 inches 3�

Sky of Pale Orange, 2008, oil on canvas, 22 x 30 inches3�

Filled with Foliage, 2009, oil on canvas, 30 x �2 inches 37

Barn in the Corner, 2009, oil on canvas, �� x 8� inches38

Perfect Sunrise, 2007, pastel on paper, 9 x 12 inches

BeFOre sUNrise

Rothko has given us permission to simplify our

paintings by using coloristic bands. A line of dark woods bordering my pasture in Vermont gave me the impulse to paint a Rothko-like landscape. The pink

above and the green below the black act as a

transition to the adjoining areas. Don’t think that

finding the right size and colors of these con-

nections was any kind of a cinch…

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Large Study for “Before Sunrise”, 2008, pastel on paper, 1� x 19 inches �1

Before Sunrise, 2008, oil on canvas, �2 x �� inches �2

MAgeNTA VAriATiONs

I had a pastel that I felt was clear enough in its structure to be translated almost exactly into a large painting. The color relations move almost logically

across the surface. The order of the trees does not follow a hierarchical

sequence but a purely tonal one where no one object is more important

than any other. Because I have previously painted a number of tree rows, I

am now quite comfortable with this subject. Therefore, the transition from

the pastel to the painting came about with enjoyable ease.

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Mostly Austere Pink, 2008-09, pastel on paper, 1� x 22 inches ��

Magenta Variations, 2009, oil on canvas, �2 x 83 inches��

Published on the occasion of the exhibition

WOLF KAHNToward the Larger View: A Painter’s Process

23 April – 5 June 2009

Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art20 West 57th StreetNew York, New York 10019tel: 212 445 0051 fax: 212 445 0102www.ameringer-yohe.comwww.wolfkahn.com

Statements by Wolf Kahn copyright © 2009

Credits:Photography by Jordan TinkerCatalogue designed by Hannah Alderfer, HHA DesignPrinted by CA Design, Hong Kong

Publication copyright © 2009 Ameringer & Yohe Fine ArtAll rights reserved

ISBN: 978-0-9820810-2-0

Cover: Barn in the Corner (detail), page 39 Inside cover: Early Summer Painting (detail), page 9

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