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Kahn, Gustave

    Full Name: Kahn, Gustave

    Gender: male

    Date Born: 1859

    Date Died: 1936

    Place Born: Metz, Austria

    Place Died: Paris, Île-de-France, France

    Home Country/ies: France

    Subject Area(s): art theory, French (culture or style), symbolism (artistic concept), and Symbolist

    Career(s): art critics


    Overview

    Theorist, critic, and historian of French Symbolism. Kahn studied at the école des Chartres, and the école des Langues Orientales, and began writing poetry in 1879. After serving in the French military from 1880-1884, he moved to Paris and joined the Parisian literary scene. In 1886, Kahn discussed his theories on Symbolism in an article entitled “Résponse des Symbolistes,” where he called upon writers and artists to represent their observations of the world through symbols. He frequently published articles about Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave Moreau, completing his first book of art criticism, Symbolists et décadents, in 1901. Kahn spent the last years of his life as an art critic for Mercure de France (1919) and Quotidien (1923).



    Sources

    Dictionary of Art



    Contributors: LaNitra Michele Walker


    Citation

    LaNitra Michele Walker. "Kahn, Gustave." Dictionary of Art Historians (website). https://arthistorians.info/kahng/.


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