Title

Kahan, Louis.

Author

Australian Prints.

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

2003

Type

Biography

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Louis Kahan

Louis Kahan was born in Austria in 1905. His drawing and painting skills were mostly self-taught as his father had not allowed him to attend art school, encouraging him towards tailoring. He did, however, study printmaking in Paris at La Grande Chaumiere and stained glass in London at the Hornsey College of Art, after working as a professional tailor.

He joined the French Foreign Legion during the Second World War and worked as a war artist in North Africa with the Allied Forces. After the war he worked on staff at Le Figaro in Paris where he met art historian Andre Warred who encouraged him to be a full-time artist.

Kahan came to Australia in 1947 to visit family members who had moved to Perth before the war. He was so captivated by the country he decided to stay, moving to Melbourne some years later. Primarily a sculptor and portrait painter, Kahan also produced stage and costume design, designing for the Australian Opera for many years. He also undertook significant commissions of stained glass windows. He produced etchings in Paris in the 1940s, and a linocut shortly after his arrival in Australia. From the 1980s Kahan produced many etchings. He died in Melbourne aged 97 on 16 July 2002.

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