Jacob Kainen
| Jacob Kainen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1909 Waterbury, Connecticut |
| Died | 2001 Chevy Chase, Maryland |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Painting, Printmaking, Curator |
| Movement | Abstract Expressionist |
Jacob Kainen (December 7, 1909 - March 19, 2001) was an American painter and printmaker. He is also known as an art historian, writing books on John Baptist Jackson (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1962) and the etchings of Canaletto (Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC, 1967). In addition, Kainen was a collector of German Expressionist art, and he and his second wife, Ruth, donated a collection of this work to the National Gallery of Art in 1985.
Jacob Kainen was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1909. As the second of three sons born to Russian immigrants, Kainen grew up in a family that appreciated culture and talent. His father’s artistry as an inventor and his mother’s love for music and literature undoubtedly fostered in Kainen an insatiable interest in art. Even at age ten, Kainen was eager to study master works, including clippings of art reproductions from The Jewish Daily Forward in his scrapbooks. In 1918 the family moved to New York City, where Kainen’s budding passion would further advance with trips to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library. Poetry and literature became major components of his artistic study during high school. When Kainen graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School at sixteen, he was too young to be admitted to the Pratt Institute. In the meantime he took drawing classes at the Art Students League, where Kimon Nicolaides taught him to “trust in the freedom and sureness of his hand.” It was during this period that Kainen made his first prints, drypoint etchings. Kainen used this time to further exercise his interests by working in the classics department of Brentano’s bookstore, as well as developing his skills as a boxer. Kainen would go on to become an expert in the classics and quite a skilled amateur prizefighter.
...
Wikipedia