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Wilfred (or William) Langdon Kihn (September 5, 1898 – December 12, 1957) was a
Motivated by a desire to document the disappearing aboriginal culture, he spent many years visiting and living with Indian tribes in the
Foosaner Gallery
/ref>
W. Langdon Kihn
page at the
W. Langdon Kihn Papers
at the Archives of American Art.
Exhibition portraits of American Indians
by W. Langdon Kihn (1922) at Archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Kihn, W. 1898 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Painters from Brooklyn Painters from Connecticut Artists of the American West Native American history of Montana Connecticut Democrats Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni 20th-century American male artists
portrait painter
Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...
and illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...
specializing in portraits of American Indians.
Life and career
He was born inBrooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, son of Alfred Charles Kihn and Carrie Lowe (Peck) Kihn. He attended Boys' High School in Brooklyn and was recognized there for his artistic talent.
He married Helen Van Tine Butler in 1920, and lived in Hadlyme and Moodus, Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
.
He studied with the Art Students League, 1916–17, and was a pupil of Homer Boss and Winold Reiss.
Motivated by a desire to document the disappearing aboriginal culture, he spent many years visiting and living with Indian tribes in the Western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau.
As American settlement i ...
. In 1920, he was admitted to the Blackfeet
The Blackfeet Nation (, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Montana. Tribal members primarily belong ...
tribe in Montana, under the name "Zoi-och-ka-tsai-ya," meaning "Chase Enemy in Water".
In 1922, the ''New York Times'' described his work as follows:
Mr. Kihn's portraits are marvels of incisive characterization. These closely studied physiognomies show no trace of the sentimental idealization from which most painters of Indian subjects find it almost impossible to escape. Each is firm, clear, and direct, recording the subtle differences of aspect difficult enough to discern in races other than our own, and seizing the essential message of the face with youthful certainty and conviction.Throughout his career, he also illustrated a number of books, including ''Indian Days in the Canadian Rockies'' by
Marius Barbeau
Charles Marius Barbeau, (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969), also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadians, Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthr ...
(1923) and ''Pocahontas and Her World'' by Frances Carpenter (1961). Many of his illustrations featured colorful portraits, while children's story books such as ''Flat Tail'' by Alice Gall and Fleming Crew (1935) often featured line drawings.
Along with writer Donald Barr Chidsey, he was a Democratic candidate for the Connecticut House of Representatives
The Connecticut House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with each ...
from the town of Lyme, in the November 2, 1948 election.
He died in Lawrence Memorial Hospital, New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...
, after a short illness, and was buried in Cove Cemetery, Hadlyme, Connecticut.
Collections and exhibitions
His paintings were featured in one-man and group exhibitions in many different museums and galleries, starting in the early 1920s. His work is in the permanent collections of, among others, the McCord Museum in Montreal, Quebec, and the Davison Art Center Gallery atWesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
, Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...
.
In 2014, the Foosaner Art Museum at the Florida Institute of Technology hosted an exhibition of his works, featuring pictures from the Vancouver Art Gallery and the National Geographic Society and a private collector./ref>
See also
*Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans (also called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the Contiguous United States, lower 48 states and A ...
: Depictions by Europeans and Americans
* Native Americans in popular culture
* Elbridge Ayer Burbank
* George Catlin
George Catlin ( ; July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the American frontier. Traveling to the Wes ...
* Seth and Mary Eastman
* Paul Kane
* Charles Bird King
* Joseph Henry Sharp
* John Mix Stanley
John Mix Stanley (January 17, 1814 – April 10, 1872) was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in the Finger Lakes region of New York, he st ...
Sources
External links
W. Langdon Kihn
page at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
's Archives of American Art
*W. Langdon Kihn Papers
at the Archives of American Art.
Exhibition portraits of American Indians
by W. Langdon Kihn (1922) at Archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Kihn, W. 1898 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Painters from Brooklyn Painters from Connecticut Artists of the American West Native American history of Montana Connecticut Democrats Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni 20th-century American male artists