Wolf Kahn

Six cultural institutions have been named as the beneficiaries of an $800,000 grant initiative honoring artists Wolf Kahn (1927–2020) and Emily Mason (1932–2019), who were married for sixty-two years. The grant recipients are Hunter College (Advanced Curatorial Certificate Program), the New York Botanical Garden, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop), and the International Print Center, all in New York, and the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and the Vermont Studio Center, both in Vermont. Each grantee will receive $100,000. The grants are made jointly by the Wolf Kahn Foundation and the Emily Mason | Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation and represent the first collaborative philanthropic initiative between the two organizations. The gifts are intended to reflect five facets of the artists’ life together in New York, where they lived and worked, and Vermont, where they had a summer home and studios. These are New York City, access to arts education, Vermont, gardens and the natural world, and printmaking.

Artists Wolf Kahn (1927-2020) and Emily Mason (1932-2019) not only left their mark on American art, they left an indelible impression on Vermont’s art and artists. The couple, who split their time between New York City and Brattleboro, founded the Wolf Kahn | Emily Mason Foundation in 1998, originally to support cultural institutions through grants for exhibitions, artists residencies and community engagement with the arts.

Artists Wolf Kahn (1927-2020) and Emily Mason (1932-2019) not only left their mark on American art, they left an indelible impression on Vermont’s art and artists. The couple, who split their time between New York City and Brattleboro, founded the Wolf Kahn | Emily Mason Foundation in 1998, originally to support cultural institutions through grants for exhibitions, artists residencies and community engagement with the arts.

The private collections of the late artists Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason will be sold to benefit the painters’ two foundations at Christie’s next month. Featuring works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Richard Diebenkorn, Lee Bontecou, and Marsden Hartley, a live auction with some of the of the top works of the collection will take place on May 18 at Christie’s New York headquarters. An online sale will also take place from May 6–20. The entire collection is expected to achieve a collected $4.6 million–$7.4 million.