Anne Kahane

Anne Kahane (March 1, 1924 – September 29, 2023) was an Austrian-born Canadian artist.

Best known for her figures carved in wood, Kahane began her career as a printmaker and commercial artist.

In addition to her work as a sculptor using wood, brass, and aluminum, Kahane's artistic repertoire also included drawing and printmaking.

Kahane was born in Vienna, Austria on March 1, 1924.

In 1925, she and her family moved to Canada, and settled in Montreal.

In Montreal, Kahane attended high school at Strathcona Academy where no art course was taught.

The absence of these studies influenced her to seek extra-curricular activities related to art.

Upon enrolling in night classes at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal (1940), she furthered her studies in traditional sculpture, commercial art, industrial design, and architecture.

In the fall of 1942 Kahane began training as a commercial artist at Valentine's School of Commercial Art.

Kahane lived with her mother, using the home of her friends as studio space, and obtained planks of wood for her art from the local lumberyard.

In 1945 she went to New York to study at the Cooper Union Art School.

It was there that she discovered the art of woodcarving, the technique that would later shape her career.

She received no financial prize from her London competition, but as a result, in 1952, was asked to join the Sculptors Society of Canada.

In 1953, Kahane's maquette for The Unknown Political Prisoner Monument was the only Canadian entry to take a prize in the international sculpture competition organized by the Institute of Contemporary Arts of London, England.

In the same year, Kahane had her first solo exhibition at the Galérie Agnès Lefort.

At the 1956 Concours Artistique de la province au Quebec, Kahane won the grand prize for her work Ball Game.

Kahane's work was internationally celebrated, representing Canada with James Wilson Morrice, Jacques de Tonnancour, and Jack Nichols at the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1958), at Expo 67 in Montreal and at the Brussels World's Fair (1968).

She received public and private commissions, notably her sculpture for the Winnipeg airport (1963) and a piece for Montreal's Place des Arts (1963–1964).

As an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy, Kahane exhibited with them between 1964 and 1976, and with the Art Association of Montreal from 1957 to 1965.

Kahane taught fine arts at Concordia University from 1965 to 1980.

Later, as a resident sculptor, she taught at McMaster University in Hamilton (1980–1982), where she explored flat structural techniques using flexible materials to depart from traditional three-dimensional structures.

Kahane died on September 29, 2023, at the age of 99.