Résumé
LEONARD KAHAN
1935 - 2024. R.I.P
Leonard Kahan spent his earlier years as an art student and artist living in Brooklyn, NY, exhibiting his paintings, drawings and photography in galleries in the U.S. and Europe.
He became involved in African art in the mid 1960's, teaching fine arts and African art in Brooklyn College, Queens College and the YWCA. He opened a gallery of African art in 1969, taught African Art, Fine arts and lectured on African art until the 90's.
He was assistant curator of African art at the SMA Fathers African Art Museum in Tenafly, NJ for 9 years and then curator of African art at the Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, NY from 2002 to the 2012.
Through his galleries he published more than 15 scholarly catalogues and books on African.art. With four other authors he recently wrote and edited Surfaces: Color, Substances and Ritual Applications on African Sculpture, published by Indiana University Press.
Since 1980 he has been an appraiser of African art, a certified member of the Appraiser’s Association of America.
Education (1960-61)
Brooklyn College, MFA 1953-57 Pratt Institute, BFA 1940's-50's
Brooklyn Museum Art School
Art Student’s League, NYC
Appraiser (1975- 2020)
Certified Appraiser in the Appraiser’s Association of America (AAA); specialty African art . Have been specializing in appraisals of African art in institution and private collections. Have traveled to West and Central Africa from 1969 to 1999 visiting 8 countries many times, studying African art, learning from their workshops, and festivals and collecting art for galleries, collectors and museums.
Instructor:
Queens College, Art History, Painting, African Art 1963-70
Brooklyn College, Painting, Design, Pre-dental workshop
Owner
L. Kahan Gallery. Specializing in African Art. 1968-99
Traveled, studied and collected art in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Rep du Benin, Cameroon, Gabon and D.R. Congo
Lecturer
Lectured on African art at Queens College, Brooklyn College, Smithsonian Institute, Staten Island Community College, Montclair Art Museum, NJ, S.M.F. Fathers African Art Museum, Tenafly, NJ; Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY, Seton Hall University, and other institutions
Curator
Assistant Curator of African. Art, SMA Fathers Museum, Tenafly, 1980's Curator of African Art, Queensborough Community College, NY, Art Gallery, 2002 to present.
Also founded the QCC African Art Museum
Publications:
Include illustrated catalogues and books on African art, with innovative themes. Research and essays written by scholars.
2011
Through The Eyes of our Ancestors: Bordogna, Charles, Page, Donna, Kahan, Leonard
2009 Surfaces: Color, Substances, and Ritual applications on African Sculpture:
Edited by Leonard Kahan, Donna Page, and Dr. Pascal J. Imperato Explores the diverse treatments of sculpture surfaces as integral parts of the total symbolic structures encoded in wooden African art objects.
2007 A Cameroon World: Art and African from the Marshall and Caroline
Mount Collection: Page, Donna
1994 Metamorphosis in African Artifacts: Lund, Leslie Anthropormophic and zoomorphic artifacts are examined as aspects of cultural and communications systems.
1991 One Half Holds the Sky: The African Calabash: Lund, Leslie The wide range of forms used in calabash art in Africa are explored.
1990 Zulu: Levine, Samuel I. A brief Zulu history accompanied by detailed description of beadwork, wood carvings, costumes, artifacts and weapons.
1989 A Tanzanian Tradition: Bordogna, Charles Study of a wide range of cultural groups in Tanzania; their art and artifacts.
1989 The Minimal in African Art: Page, Donna Investigating the affinities between traditional reductionist African sculpture and the modernist traditions of Western Minimalism; connections between these two disparate visual traditions.
1987 Two, Three, Four; Multiples in African Art:, Page, Donna
1983 African Art from New Jersey Collections: Montclair Museum, NJ,
Mount, Dr. Marshall
1982 Gestures in African Art: Blier, Suzanne Preston Explores levels of meaning conveyed by gesture.
1980 Africa’s Cross River: Art of the Nigerian-Cameroon Border Redefined:
Blier, Suzanne Preston
1979 Africa’s West Atlantic Coast: Lamp, Fred
1978 Dogon Cliff Dwellers; The Art of Mali’s Mountain People: Imperato, Dr. Pascal James
1977 Ekon Society Puppets: Sculptures for Social Criticism; Scheinberg, Alfred.L.
1976 Two: Aspects of the Doubled Image in African Art: Scheinberg, Alfred L. 2009 Wrote and edited book , Surfaces, published by Indiana University Press in collaboration with Donna Page, Pascal Imperato, Charles Bordogna and Bolaji Campbell.
2011 African American Collectors of African Art, using collections of African Art from New York, New Jersey and Chicago.
EXHIBITIONS:
2003 Printmaking Council of NJ. Exhibited digital paintings in group show.
2003 Wash. Square East Galleries. Exhibited miniature digital paintings.
2004 Digital paintings exhibited in Gallery in Athens, Greece
2004 Watermark Cargo Gallery, Kingston, NY. Four digital paintings in group show.
2006 Four paintings chosen along with Louise Bourgeois paintings and other in NYC Gallery fund-raiser for Women’s Survival Space.
2007 China photos and drawings (from 1976-77 and 2006) at Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, NY. Large catalogue produced.
2010 27 new digital paintings exhibited at Queensborough Community College, Art Gallery, N.Y, executed mostly from sketches done abroad. Color catalogue produced.
` 2013 Produced series of “roadline” paintings in the Woodlands condo streets
2015 Printed book of 70 sketches done abroad over the last 15 years.