Emanuel Otto Hahn (30 May 1881 – 14 February 1957) was a German-born Canadian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

designer. He taught and later married

Elizabeth Wyn Wood Elizabeth Winnifred Wood (October 8, 1903 – January 27, 1966), known as Elizabeth Wyn Wood, was a Canadian sculptor and advocate of art education. A notable figure in Canadian sculpture, she is primarily known for her modernist interpretation ...

. He co-founded and was the first president of the

Sculptors' Society of Canada The Sculptors Society of Canada (SSC) promotes and exhibits contemporary Canadian sculpture. Founded by Canadian sculptors Frances Loring, Florence Wyle, Elizabeth Wyn Wood, Wood's teacher and husband Emanuel Hahn, Henri Hébert and Alfred Lalibe ...

Biography

Education and training

Hahn was born in

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; ) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous Reutlingen (district), district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it had an estimated population of 116,456. Reutlingen has a Reutlingen University, univ ...

(today a part of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) and moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1888 with his family. He studied modelling and commercial design at the Toronto Technical School and

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods ...

as well as

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

from 1899 to 1903. In 1901, he was hired by the McIntosh Marble and Granite Company where he created the bronze reliefs on various monuments. Hahn then went on to study in

Stuttgart, Germany Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

in 1903, he pursued art and design at the local school of art and design and the Polytechnical School, and briefly apprenticed in the studio of a sculptor teaching at the academy. From 1908 to 1912 Hahn was a studio assistant to sculptor

Walter Seymour Allward Walter Seymour Allward (18 November 1874 – 24 April 1955) was a Canadian monumental sculptor best known for the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Featuring expressive classical figures within modern compositions, Allward's monuments evoke them ...

, helping in the construction of Allward's South African War Memorial in Toronto, the Alexander Graham Bell Telephone Memorial in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

Ontario, and the Baldwin-Lafontaine Monument on

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. In 1912 he was hired as a modeling instructor at the

, ultimately heading the sculpture department until his retirement in 1951. He was made a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...

Personal life

Hahn married his former student

in 1926. The couple had one daughter and lived in Toronto at 159 Glen Road. and died in Toronto in 1957.

Career and official commissions

Image:AdamBeck-statue Toronto.jpg, Emanuel Hahn's Sir

Adam Beck Memorial The Adam Beck Memorial is a memorial in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in honour of the founder of Ontario Hydro, Sir Adam Beck. It is located in the landscaped median of University Avenue just south of Queen Street West. Designed by sculptor Emanuel Ha ...

(1934) on University Avenue at Queen Street West in

File:Ned Hanlan statue on the Toronto Islands.jpg, Emanuel Hahn's monument to

Ned Hanlan Edward "Ned" Hanlan (12 July 1855 – 4 January 1908) was a Canadian professional sculler, hotelier, and alderman from Toronto, Ontario. He was the world sculling champion from 1880 to 1884. According to Rowing Canada Aviron, Hanlan is "widel ...

(1926) on the

Toronto Islands The Toronto Islands are a chain of 15 small islands in Lake Ontario, south of mainland Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the only group of islands in the western part of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands are located just offshore from the ...

File:Elizabeth II official Canadian portrait.jpg, Emanuel Hahn's design for Canadian stamps issued in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II File:Robert Burns Monument 1902.jpg, Emanuel Hahn's

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

monument (1902) in

Allan Gardens Allan Gardens is a Conservatory (greenhouse), conservatory and urban park located in the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The property includes a playground, off-leash dog park, and a conservatory with six gr ...

, Toronto Image:Sam Lount bas relief.jpg, Emanuel Hahn's Memorial to

Samuel Lount Samuel Lount (September 24, 1791 – April 12, 1838) was a blacksmith, farmer, magistrate and member of the Legislative Assembly in the province of Upper Canada for Simcoe County from 1834 to 1836. He was an organizer of the failed Upper Ca ...

(1938) at

Mackenzie House Mackenzie House is a historic building and museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that was the last home of William Lyon Mackenzie, the city's first mayor. It is now a museum operated by the City of Toronto's Museum and Heritage Services. History ...

, Toronto File:Alexander Graham Bell Brantford Monument 0.98.jpg,

Bell Telephone Memorial The Bell Memorial (also known as the Bell Monument or Telephone Monument) is a memorial designed by Walter Seymour Allward to commemorate the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell at the Bell Homestead National Historic Site, in Br ...

Ontario, a monument Hahn worked on with W.S. Allward, unveiled 24 October 1917 File:The Seventh Report on Grievances.jpg, Emanuel Hahn's "Mackenzie Panels" (1938) in the garden of Mackenzie House, Toronto File:Saint-Lambert Cenotaph 2014.jpg, The Saint-Lambert, Quebec Cenotaph by Emanuel Hahn, inaugurated on July 9, 1922, by General Sir

Arthur Currie General Sir Arthur William Currie, (5 December 187530 November 1933) was a senior officer of the Canadian Army who fought during World War I. He had the unique distinction of starting his military career on the very bottom rung as a pre-war ...

* In 1916, a monument designed by Salvation Army Major Gideon Miller, and sculpted by Emanuel Hahn was dedicated to Salvationists who died in the sinking of the

RMS Empress of Ireland RMS ''Empress of Ireland'' was a British-built ocean liner that Sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland, sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada following a collision in thick fog with the Norwegian Collier (ship), collier in ...

29 May 1914, was unveiled. Every year, the church holds a special service of remembrance at the memorial in

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto Mount Pleasant Cemetery is a cemetery located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries. It was opened in November 1876 and is located north of Moore Park, a neighbourhood of Toronto. The cemetery has k ...

on the Sunday closest to 29 May. * Hahn's statue of a grieving soldier for the War Memorial,

Westville, Nova Scotia Westville is a town in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located immediately west of Stellarton and about four kilometres southwest of New Glasgow, the major town in the area. History Originally called Acadian Village, the name We ...

was replicated for several other monuments, including the cenotaph in

Gaspé, Quebec Gaspé () is a city at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of eastern Quebec in Canada. Gaspé is about northeast of Quebec City and east of Rimouski. Gaspé has a total population of 15,063, as of th ...

. After

the First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Hahn gained fame for his war memorial designs as communities sought to honour their veterans with cenotaphs and memorial sculptures. He designed a monument on the theme of a realistic soldier figure "going over the top" in Saint-Lambert, Quebec and a meditating figure of Tommy in his Greatcoat in

Lindsay, Ontario Lindsay is a community of 22,367 people ( 2021 census) on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately west of Peterborough. It is located in the City of Kawartha Lakes, and is the hub for ...

. Hahn's winning proposal for the city of Winnipeg's war memorial caused a national controversy when the sculptor's German ancestry was revealed in 1925. Hahn was forced to relinquish the commission, although he was able to keep the prize money. Controversy erupted again when the competition was reopened and his wife

won the contract for the memorial. Critics condemned Wood for using her maiden name in the competition and accused her of copying her husband's design. She was also forced to withdraw from the contract and the memorial was awarded to the third-place winner. Hahn's career was not significantly harmed, however, since he received wide press coverage, some of which condemned the city of Winnipeg because Hahn was a naturalized Canadian citizen. The following year he was awarded the contract for the Edward Hanlan monument (1926), erected on the

Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day (Canada), ...

grounds, and moved to the

in 2004. In 1929 he won the competition for a memorial to Sir Adam Beck, his most important and largest monumental project, unveiled in 1934 on University Avenue, Toronto. Hahn was a member of

The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto is a private members' club in Toronto, Ontario, which brings together writers, architects, musicians, painters, graphic artists, actors and others working in or with a love of the arts and letters. It was foun ...

and served as the first President of the

, which he established with

Frances Loring Frances Norma Loring LL. D. (October 14, 1887– February 5, 1968) was a Canadian sculptor. Biography Loring was born in Wardner, Idaho on October 14, 1887 to mining engineer Frank Curtis Loring (1859-1938) and Charlotte Moore.Amy Marshall Furne ...

Florence Wyle Florence Norma Wyle (November 14, 1881 – January 14, 1968) was an American-Canadian sculptor, designer and poet; a pioneer of the Canadian art scene. She practiced chiefly in Toronto, living and working with her partner Frances Loring, with w ...

and Elizabeth Wyn Wood in 1928. Membership in the sculptors' society permitted Hahn to exhibit smaller sculptures independently of museums and galleries. The Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque for the

South African War Memorial (Toronto) The South African War Memorial is a memorial located at University Avenue and Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Commissioned in 1910, largely as the result of the efforts of James Mason, and designed by Walter Seymour Allward to com ...

erroneously states that

studied under Emanuel Hahn, when in fact it was the contrary. James Saull, who constructed the

Oak Bay, British Columbia Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordered ...

Cenotaph in 1948, studied under Emanuel Hahn. Hahn's last work is likely the Robert H. Saunders Memorial, a bas relief marker located on University Avenue south of College Street in 1957.

Coin design

Among the

coins of Canada The coins of Canada are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and denominated in Canadian dollars ($) and the subunit of dollars, cent (currency), cents (¢). An effigy of the reigning monarch always appears on the obverse of all coins. There are s ...

, Hahn designed the

Voyageur Dollar The voyageur dollar is a coin of Canada that was struck for circulation from 1935 through 1986. Until 1968, the coin was composed of 80% silver. A smaller, nickel version for general circulation was struck from 1968 through 1986. In 1987, the coi ...

, which depicts a fur-trapper (''

coureur de bois A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; ) were independent entrepreneurial French Canadians, French Canadian traders who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ...

'') from the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

and a

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

man in a canoe with the

Northern Lights Northern lights most commonly refers to the aurora borealis, a natural light display in Earth's sky. (The) Northern Light(s) may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Northern Lights'' (1978 film), about the Nonpartisan League in Nort ...

in the background; the

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

racing schooner ''

Bluenose ''Bluenose'' was a fishing and racing gaff rig schooner built in 1921 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. A celebrated racing ship and fishing vessel, ''Bluenose'' under the command of Angus Walters, became a provincial icon for Nova Scotia and ...

'' on the 10¢ coin; the

caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

head on the 25¢ coin; and the

Canadian Parliament Buildings The Canadian Parliament Buildings are the parliament buildings housing the Parliament of Canada, located on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Parliament Buildings The Parliament Buildings are three edifices arranged around three sides ...

reverse of the

1939 royal tour of Canada King George VI and Queen Elizabeth made their visit to Canada from 17 May to 15 June 1939. Taking place in the months leading up to the Second World War, the tour was undertaken to strengthen trans-Atlantic support for the United Kingdom in an ...

silver dollar.

Portraits by other artists

Hahn was the subject of a larger than life-size (56 cm) bust by his former student Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook entitled ''Head of Emanuel Hahn''. The sculpture was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in 1962 for its permanent collection.

References

Bibliography

* Baker, Victoria. ''Emanuel Hahn and Elizabeth Wyn Wood: Tradition and Innovation in Canadian Sculpture.'' Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1997. *

External links

*
Emanuel Hahn's Artist's Gallery
at the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery group, monument to Empress of Ireland Salvation Army people who died May 29 1914.
written by Toronto Historian

Mike Filey Mike Filey (October 11, 1941 – July 30, 2022) was a Canadian historian, radio host, journalist and author. He was awarded the Jean Hibbert Memorial Award in 2009 for promoting the city of Toronto and its history. Early life Born in 1941 in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hahn, Emanuel 1881 births People from Reutlingen 1957 deaths Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors German emigrants to Canada 20th-century German designers Canadian currency designers Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors Coin designers