Born in Germany in 1905, immigrated in 1934, died in 1967 Kahana's work is dominated by the Canaanite trend, conceived in the 1930s by a group of painters and sculptors in a quest to revive the affinity of the Jewish People with its country of origin and to re strike roots in the Middle Eastern region generally. They looked for subject matter in the Old Testament and were inspired by the archeological finds from the ancient lands of the East. The "Canaanite" twist of their depiction of the biblical motifs invested their work with connotations far removed from the Jewish tradition, and the artists were consequently accused of idolatry. Until the 1940s, Kahana was anchored in figurative painting. Gradually, in correspondence with the outlook of the New Horizons group (of which Kahana was a founding member), the geometric forms in his work took on an abstract aspect, suggesting mythological symbols engraved on a stone tablet. The untitled painting at first sight appears to be abstract. A closer look reveals in the center of the composition a wide-shouldered figure, looking like a mythological deity on an ancient Assyrian relief. The color range recalls that of a mosaic images and ceramics from the ancient East.
You can find some of Aharon Kahana's sculptures in our web site'sSculpture Section .
