Anne Kahane (1924-2023), 6 Prints from the Series “Canti,” 2010-2011, woodblock prints, various dimensions. MMFA, gift of Anne Kahane Estate. Photo MMFA
Anne Kahane (1924-2023), 6 Prints from the Series “Canti,” 2010-2011, woodblock prints, various dimensions. MMFA, gift of Anne Kahane Estate. Photo MMFA
Anne Kahane
This exhibition sheds light on the work of Anne Kahane (1924-2023), one of the most important Montreal sculptors of her generation. Early in her career, Kahane earned significant recognition, becoming the first female sculptor to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale and securing numerous major public commissions across the country.
Although mostly known for her sculptural practice, she also produced a number of graphic works. Bringing together two complete series of prints as well as selected sculptures, the exhibition introduces the public to the conceptual and formal connections between Kahane’s two- and three-dimensional works.
The fruit of a major gift from the artist’s estate to the MMFA in 2025, the presentation pays tribute to a quintessentially Modernist artistic practice that reflects the complexities of the human condition.
At the heart of the exhibition are three sculptures in wood—one of the artist’s preferred materials—from 1968. Each piece is carved from Canadian pine, a species known for its lightness, pale colour and refined grain, which the artist deliberately left visible. These sculptures are rendered in the round, unpainted, and are characterized by curved, minimalist volumes evoking the human body, absent head and arms. They rest on long vertical planks that suggest a standing pose and lengthen the silhouette towards the ground. Each of the works displays slight variations in height, proportion and volume, a summation of Kahane’s formal exploration of the relationships between mass, balance and abstraction.
The two series of prints shown in the exhibition—dating from the 1970s and 2010-2011—reflect the formal complexity of the wood sculptures, all while standing as a body of work in their own right. In the 1970s, having abandoned figurative subjects, Kahane turned to a sparer visual language. The ten etchings of the “Structure” series (1973-1975) led to an exploration of linear abstraction: open and closed shapes composed of fine, precise lines blending together in an organic network. Printed by hand, they attest to a careful rigour and balance in their form and composition.
Starting in the 1990s, Kahane returned to woodblock prints and explored colour. In 2010, at the age of 86, she created the series “Canti” (2010-2011), inspired by a poetry collection by the Italian writer and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi. Fascinated by the untranslatable nature of these major poems of 19th-century Italian literature, the artist transposed their existential dimension in a series of 35 prints (one for each poem) on painted wood. Resolutely modern in their visual language, the Canti poetically convey emotion by an economy of means: simple shapes, limited colour palette, dense composition. The themes addressed—solitude, isolation, sorrow, alienation—reflect those of Leopardi, whose process of constant revision and stylistic evolution resonated deeply with Kahane. Visitors who stop to contemplate these chromatic poems will be able to appreciate the subtle variations between them and the emotional power emanating from them.
Anne Kahane (1924-2023), Torso II, 1968, pine, 163.8 x 34.8 x 38.7 cm. MMFA, gift of Anne Kahane Estate. Photo MMFA
Anne Kahane was born on March 1, 1924, in Vienna. She was only seven when she and her parents moved to Montreal. Throughout the 1940s, in a small basement studio in NDG, she began making wood sculpture, a discipline with which she would long be associated. In 1943, Kahane began her studies at a commercial art school in Montreal, before going on to hone her craft in sculpture, painting and industrial design at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture in New York, from 1945 to 1947. There, she was captivated by the spare Modernist sculptures of Brancusi, Lipchitz and Zadkine, whose influence can be seen in her early works.
Kahane exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1951 (Sculptures by Anne Kahane, Sybil Kennedy and Louis Archambault) and in 1954 (Léon Bellefleur, Paintings. Anne Kahane, Sculpture). In 1956, the artist enjoyed an extended stay in Italy and Europe, but elected to pursue her career in Canada. Two years later, not only was she the sole sculptor chosen to represent Canada at Expo 58 in Brussels, she was also the first female sculptor to be exhibited in the newly built Canadian pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
From 1965 to 1980, Kahane taught sculpture at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia). During this time, she received several major public commissions. She created works for the Winnipeg International Airport, Expo 67 and the Place des Arts.
Anne Kahane’s work achieved significant institutional recognition. She notably participated in the exhibition La sculpture au Québec, 1946-1961 : naissance et persistance (1992) at the Musée du Québec and was the subject of several retrospectives, including Anne Kahane: Dualities (1999) at Concordia University’s Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Celebration (2009) at Stewart Hall Art Gallery, and Anne Kahane. De la sculpture à la gravure (2012) at the Outremont Art Gallery.
Sam Tata (1911-2005), Anne Kahane Working on “Slumber” (detail), 1959, black and white photograph. Collection of the artist. © Sam Tata Estate
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Photo Thibault Carron
Credits and curatorial team
An exhibition organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
The exhibition is curated by Anne Grace, Curator of Modern Art at the MMFA.
Public Partners
Media Partner
Photo Thibault Carron
