The Four Kühn Children (Seeing the Sun)
Original Language TitleVer Kinder, Sonnensehen
Artist
Heinrich Kühn
(Austrian, born Germany, 1866 - 1944)
Dateca. 1912
MediumGum bichromate over platinum print
DimensionsImage: 11 9/16 × 9 3/16 inches (29.37 × 23.34 cm)
Sheet: 11 3/4 × 9 3/8 inches (29.85 × 23.81 cm)
Sheet: 11 3/4 × 9 3/8 inches (29.85 × 23.81 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.2741
SignedSigned on sheet verso, center, in black crayone: "Heinrich Kuhn / Innsbruck"
InscribedNumerous notations on sheet verso, top, in pencil and red pencil.
MarkingsOn sheet verso, upper left, in pencil: "RMG#384.23";
On sheet verso, upper right, in pencil: "neg 80";
On sheet verso, lower right, in pencil: "3P SL / each Walter ... / ( 1903) ";
On sheet verso, center, in pencil: "A 13".
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionSoftly focused image of four children (two boys and two girls) leaning in closely towards one another. The boy in the upper right is wearing a polka-dot tie and round-rimmed glasses.Exhibition HistoryRotation 25. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 19, 2018- March 17, 2019, no cat.
In this portrait, Heinrich Kühn posed his four children as if engaged in intimate conversation. The delicate rendering of light and shadow, combined with the print’s soft focus, conveys a sense of blissful childhood. Heinrich Kühn was a vocal champion for considering photography as high art and exhibited with other like-minded artists, known as Pictorialists. Kühn was celebrated for his mastery of complex techniques such as gum bichromate printing.
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY;
Purchased from Robert Miller Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1986;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Purchased from Robert Miller Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1986;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
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