Miriam Cahn

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Miriam Cahn, untitled 10 May 2012, 2012, pastel and charcoal on paper, 39 x 23 cm. Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw Collection

Miriam Cahn (born 21 July 1949) is a Swiss painter.

Biography[edit]

Cahn was born on 21 July 1949 in Basel, Switzerland.[1] She studied at Schule für Gestaltung Basel in Basel from 1968 to 1973, where she became involved with feminist and anti-nuclear movements.[2][3] Cahn is Jewish.[4]

Work[edit]

Cahn's paintings and drawings incorporate feminism and child endangerment[5][6] themes, female rituals; often featuring "violent and shocking representations of sexual organs".[7] They are often created using unorthodox methods.[8] Cahn's first exhibition was Being a Women in My Public Role in 1979.[3] Cahn's first exhibition in the United States was at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York City, in 2011.[8] Cahn's work has described as having Neo-Expressionist influences.[9]

Reception and awards[edit]

Jörg Scheller describes Cahn as a "feminist who likes to fight."[10] Her work has been the source of some controversy, including in 2023, when several French far-right associations petitioned to have Cahn's fuck abstraction! removed from the "My Serial Thought" show at the Palais de Tokyo, claiming the painting depicted "pedo-pornographic" material. France's State Council rejected the appeal and allowed the painting, which abstractly depicted the Bucha massacre by Russian troops.[11]

In 1998, Cahn won the Käthe Kollwitz Prize awarded by the Academy of Arts, Berlin.

In 2024 Cahn receives the Goslarer Kaiserring.[12]

Collections[edit]

Cahn's works can be found in numerous art collections around the world, among others at MoMA in New York, at the Tate Modern in London, at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Exhibitions[edit]

Individual exhibitions[edit]

  • Miriam CAHN: Ma pensée serielle, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2023 [13]
  • Miriam Cahn: ME AS HAPPENING, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), 2020–21
  • Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2019
  • Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2019
  • Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2019
  • everything is equally important, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2019
  • DAS GENAUE HINSCHAUEN, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2019
  • ICH ALS MENSCH, Kunstmuseum Bern, 2019
  • devoir-aimer, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, 2017
  • mare nostrum, Meyer Riegger, Berlin, 2016
  • Lachen bei gefahr, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, 2012
  • Sarajevo, Stampa, Basel, 1993
  • Stampa, Basel, 1994
  • Nachkrieg-Vorkrieg (Was Fehlt), Stampe, Basel, 1992
  • Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, 1995
  • Verwandschaften, Galerie Espace, Amsterdam, 1991
  • Verwandschaften, Stampa, Basel, 1990
  • Verwandschaften, Art Frankfurt, 1990
  • Verwandschaften, Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1990
  • Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1988
  • Van de Loo, Munich, 1988
  • Lesen in Staub, Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, 1988
  • Lesen in Staub, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, 1988
  • Lesen in Staub/Weibliche Monate, Kunstverein Hannover, 1988
  • Musée Rath, Geneva, 1988
  • Lesen in Staub/Strategische Orte, Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf, 1987
  • Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, 1987
  • Galerie Vorsetzen, Hamberg, 1987
  • Stampa, Basel, 1987
  • Strategische Orte, DAAD, Berlin, 1986
  • Strategische Orte, Stampa, Basel, 1986
  • Strategische Orte, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, and Kunstmuseum, Bonn, 1985
  • Strategische Orte, Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1985
  • Das Klassische Lieben, Musée la Chaux-de-Fonds, 1984
  • Das Klassische Lieben, Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna, 1984
  • Das Klassische Lieben, Stampa, Basel, 1984
  • Das Klassische Lieben, Kunsthalle Basel, 1983
  • Wach Raum 1, Konrad Fischer, Zurich, 1982
  • Stampa, Basel, 1977, 1979, 1981

Selected group exhibitions[edit]

  • Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany, 2017[14]
  • 21st Sydney Biennal, 2018
  • Prière de toucher – Le tactile dans l'art, Museum Tinguely, Basel, 2016
  • Module mai, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2010
  • Sammlung Van de Loo, Neue National galerie Berlin, 2004
  • Where Is Abel, Your Brother?, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw,[15] 1995
  • From Beyond the Pale, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 1994
  • Centre d'Art Contemporian, Geneva, 1994
  • Zur Sache Selbst, Künstlerinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts Museum, Wiesbaden, 1990
  • Triennal de Dibuix, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1989
  • Sydney Biennal, 1986
  • Crosscurrents in Swiss Art, Serpentine Gallery, London, 1984
  • Documenta, Kassel, Germany, 1982
  • Feministische Kunst International, Frauenzimmer, Basel, 1979
  • Claudia Martínez Garay and Miriam Cahn: Ten Thousand Things, Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2020[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Foster, Alicia (2004). Tate women artists. London: Tate. pp. 186–187. ISBN 978-1-85437-311-3.
  2. ^ "Miriam Cahn". Palais De Tokyo. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Cahn, Miriam". Oxford Art Online. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. ^ https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-artist-to-pull-works-from-swiss-museum-over-nazi-era-collection/
  5. ^ "Expo à Paris : "Insupportable, décrochez ça": Un tableau d'une artiste suisse fait un tollé". 7 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Constat d'Huissier au Palais de Tokyo pour une abominable toile de Miriam Cahn – Karl Zéro". YouTube.
  7. ^ Cunningham, Peter (April 1980). "Feministische Kunst Internationaal: A Review". Oxford Art Journal. 3 (1): 83–84. doi:10.1093/oxartj/3.1.83. JSTOR 1360183.
  8. ^ a b Priscilla Frank (3 September 2012) "Swiss Painter Miriam Cahn On Her Upcoming Exhibition 'Lachen Bei Gefahr' At Badischer Kunstverein, Germany", Huffington Post (Arts & Culture). Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  9. ^ Halle, Howard (9 March 2011). "Review: Miriam Cahn | Art | reviews, guides, things to do, film – Time Out New York". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  10. ^ Scheller, Jorg (9 November 2012). "Miriam Cahn's Fragmented Bodies". Frieze Magazine. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  11. ^ Lauter, Devorah (14 April 2023). "A Court Has Ruled That a Controversial Miriam Cahn Painting, Targeted by Far-Right Censors, Can Remain Hanging at the Palais de Tokyo". ArtNet News. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  12. ^ "Goslarer Kaiserring 2024 geht an Künstlerin Miriam Cahn" [Goslar Kaiserring 2024 goes to artist Miriam Cahn]. Tagesschau (German TV programme). 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Ma pensée sérielle – Palais de Tokyo".
  14. ^ "Miriam Cahn". www.documenta14.de. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  15. ^ Hillstrom, Laurie Collier; Hillstrom, Kevin (1 January 1999). Contemporary women artists. Detroit: St. James Press. ISBN 1-55862-372-8.
  16. ^ "Where the Andes Meets the Alps: Miriam Cahn and Claudia Martínez Garay in Nanjing". ocula.com. 7 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.

Further reading[edit]

  • Schmetterling, Astrid. "Cahn, Miriam." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed 18 February 2012; subscription required).
  • ed. Marta Dziewańska. "MIRIAM CAHN: I AS HUMAN". Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2019).

External links[edit]