Taking advantage of the connection between the two galleries, the Quogue Gallery has announced that works by Fay Lansner will be on view with pastels by Wolf Kahn in Southampton Village, NY at Noted Gallery for its final show of the 2018 season. Noted Gallery is located at 64 Jobs Lane in Southampton, NY.
“True Colors: Wolf Kahn & Fay Lansner” will feature 16 original Wolf Kahn pastels on paper, dating from the 1950s to the present day, along with paintings by Fay Lansner. The show is on view from October 12 to November 30, 2018. A Reception will be held at Noted Gallery on Saturday, October 27, 2018 from 5 to 7 p.m.
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"Path Under Pines" by Wolf Kahn, 2005. Pastel on paper, 14 x 17 inches. Courtesy Noted Gallery and Quogue Gallery.
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The Wolf Kahn pieces featured are from the private collection of an art enthusiast and longtime acquaintance of the artist. The works exhibit the collector and friend's appreciation for Kahn’s deft feel for color at its most vibrant, in often unexpected forms of expression. The exhibition represents a capsule collection of rare Kahn works, spanning the past half century and making a strong case for several critics’ assessment of the artist as “America’s Greatest Colorist.”
A master of light, expressive color and harmonious subtlety, Wolf Kahn changed the approach to traditional landscapes for current and future generations. For some of his work, he delineated his artistic viewpoint in his own handwriting, detailing both the process and his inspiration:
“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,” Wolf Kahn wrote. “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.”
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"First Study for 'Orange Foreground'" by Wolf Kahn, 2008. Pastel on paper, 8 x 10 inches. Courtesy Noted Gallery and Quogue Gallery.
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Kahn’s work exempts itself from the expectations of the traditional American landscape. His abstract yet recognizable compositions allow viewers to escape to a place of their own mind and imagination. It is perhaps this ineffable quality that allows the work to transcend traditional landscapes and appeal across time. As the artist once wrote of his approach: “I help nature take its course.”
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"Seen in Boonton Township, NJ" by Wolf Kahn, 1975-2000. Pastel on Paper, 15 x 20 inches. Courtesy Noted Gallery and Quogue Gallery.
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Like Kahn, Fay Lansner also studied with Hans Hoffman, whom Kahn and others have referenced as “one of the greatest art teachers of his generation.” Lansner studied with Hoffman in 1948 in a popular drawing class in Provincetown, MA. The following year, the artist continued her evolution in New York City, alongside Kahn, Larry Rivers and Jan Muller. In another connection between the two artists, Lansner joined Hansa—one of the first cooperative galleries, where Wolf Kahn was an original member—and had her first American exhibition in 1954.
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"OC-580" by Fay Lansner, 1962. Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches. Courtesy Quogue Gallery.
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In 1948, Fay Lansner, née Gross, married Kermit Lansner, who received a two-year Fulbright Scholarship to study the philosopher Merleau-Pont in Paris. Her husband’s fellowship provided an opportunity for the artist to embrace the origins of modernism firsthand. This experience, along with Hoffman’s teaching, furthered Lansner’s lifelong objective: “to render the subjective in an objective way.”
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"OC-623" by Fay Lansner, 1948. Charcoal and pastel on paper, 25 x 18 inches. Courtesy Quogue Gallery.
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“True Colors: Wolf Kahn & Fay Lansner” will be on view at Noted Gallery in Southampton from October 12 through November 30, 2018. Fall hours are Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment. Noted Gallery is located at 64 Jobs Lane in Southampton, NY. www.notedgallery.com.
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