Wolf Kahn
By Mark Jenkins December 23, 2015
“Since Wolf Kahn is represented by multiple Washington galleries, his rustic reveries are familiar to regulars on the local art circuit.
“Wolf Kahn: America’s Printmaker” is in part an introduction for those just discovering the German-born Vermonter’s work via Gallery Neptune & Brown, the new 14th Street NW outlet for Georgetown-rooted dealers Christine Neptune and Robert Brown.
The selection dates from the 1980s to 2015, and includes a few line-oriented works along with monotypes finished with pastel and lithographs that seem to retain the softness of their pastel origins.
Kahn is known for color contrasts that are bold and unnatural, yet somehow look apt. In the otherwise verdant “Greens and Grays of Summer,” sky and water are startlingly gray notes. A rare departure from New England subjects, “In Yosemite” spotlights a single tree rather than Kahn’s usual thickets. The highlighted trunk is, of course, orange.”
Wolf Kahn: America’s Printmaker On view through Jan. 9 at Gallery Neptune & Brown, 1530 14th St. NW. 202-986-1200. neptunefineart.com.