Walt Kuhn

Kuhn nació en Brooklyn (Nueva York). A los 15 años, vendió sus primeros dibujos a una revista, firmando con su nombre de pila "Walt". En 1893, empezó a tomar clases de arte en el polytechnic Institute of New York University 

En 1899, Kuhn se mudó a California. Después de  llegar a San Francisco empezó a trabajar como ilustrador il para la revista  The Waso. En 1901, viajó a París, en donde estudió brevemente en la Academie Colarossi, antes de trasladarse a la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Munich. Alli estudió bajo  la tutela de Heinrich von Zugel, miembro de la Escuela de Barbizon. 

 En 1903 regresó a Nueva York y empezo a trabajar como ilustrador para varios periodicos locales. En 1905 realizó su primera exposición en el Salmagundi Club, lo que le ayudó a impulsar su carrera como pintor y caricaturista. En ese mismo año comenzó a hacer sus primeras ilustraciones para la revista Life 

Se trasladó a Fort Lee en Nueva Yersey y comenzó a dar clases en la New York School of Art, pero  la experiencia no fue de su agrado, por lo que regresó a Nueva York al final del año escolar. Allí, se casó con Vera Spier. La pareja tuvo una hija, Brenda, poco después.

En 1909, Kuhn realizó su primera exhibición individual en Nueva York.  Durante los siguientes años, participó activamente en la creación de la Association of American Painters and Sculptors, la organización responsable de  la Exposición Internacional de Arte Moderno en 1913. Kuhn fue el secretario ejecutivo de la exhibición y estuvo a cargo de encontrar artistas europeos para que participaran.

En 1925, la salud de Kuhn empeoró. estando a punto de  morir de una úlcera.  Despues  de una larga recuperación, se convirtió en profesor en la Art Students League de Nueva York. También realizó un encargo  para la Union Pacific -el coche "The Little Nugget," actualmente conservado en el Travel Town Museum en Los Angeles (California). En 1933, Kuhn celebró  la primera retrospectiva de su trabajo.

Al comenzar la década de 1940  el comportamiento de Kuhn empezó a volverse errático. En 1948 fue internado y murió el 13 de julio de 1949 de una úlcera perforada.

WALT KUHN

Walt Kuhn (27 October 1877 - 13 July 1949) was an American painter and was an organizer of the modern art Armory Show of 1913, which was the first of its genre in America.


Kuhn was born in Brooklyn, New York City. At 15, Kuhn sold his first drawings to a magazine and signed his name “Walt.” In 1893, he enrolled in art classes at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.


In 1899, Kuhn set out for California with only $60 in his pocket. Upon his arriving in San Francisco, he became an illustrator for WASP magazine. In 1901, Walt left for Paris, where he briefly studied art at the Academy Colarossi before leaving to the Royal Academy in Munich. Once in the capital of Bavaria, he studied under Heinrich von Zugel (1850-1941), a member of the Barbizon School.

In 1903, he returned to New York and was employed as an illustrator for local journals. In 1905, he held his first exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, establishing himself as both a cartoonist and a serious painter. In this same year, he completed his first illustrations for LIFE magazine.


When the New York School of Art moved to Fort Lee, NJ in the summer of 1908, Kuhn joined the faculty. However, he disliked his experience with the school, and at the end of the school year, he returned to New York. There, he married Vera Spier. Soon after a daughter, Brenda Kuhn, was born.


In 1909, he helped prepare his first solo-exhibition in New York. In the following years, Kuhn took part in founding the Association of American Painters and Sculptors- the organization responsible for the Armory Show of 1913. Kuhn acted as the executive secretary and was put in charge of finding European artists to participate. The Armory Show, which displayed both European and American modern art to New York audiences, proved to be both a controversy and triumph.


In 1925, Kuhn’s health had turned for the worse when he almost died from a duodenal ulcer. After an arduous recovery, he became an instructor at the Art Students League of New York. He also completed a commission for the Union Pacific Railroad, the club car "The Little Nugget" LA-701, currently under restoration at the Travel Town Museum in Los Angeles, California. In 1933, the aging artist organized his first retrospective.

By the 1940s, Kuhn’s behavior began to take on unsound characteristics. He became increasingly distant, and when the Ringling Brothers Circus was in town, he attended night after night. In 1948, he was institutionalized, and on July 13, 1949, he died suddenly from a perforated ulcer.