Miriam Cahn (born 21 July 1949) is a Swiss painter.
Biography Cahn was born on 21 July 1949 in Basel, Switzerland. She studied at Schule für Gestaltung Basel in Basel from 1968 to 1973, where she became involved with feminist and anti-nuclear movements. Cahn is Jewish.
Work Cahn's paintings and drawings incorporate feminism and child endangerment themes, female rituals; often featuring "violent and shocking representations of sexual organs". They are often created using unorthodox methods.Priscilla Frank (3 September 2012) "Swiss Painter Miriam Cahn On Her Upcoming Exhibition 'Lachen Bei Gefahr' At Badischer Kunstverein, Germany", Huffington Post (Arts & Culture). Retrieved 18 June 2013. Cahn's first exhibition was Being a Women in My Public Role in 1979. Cahn's first exhibition in the United States was at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York City, in 2011. Cahn's work has described as having Neo-Expressionist influences.
Reception and awards Jörg Scheller describes Cahn as a "feminist who likes to fight." Her work has been the source of some controversy, including in 2023, when several French far-right associations petitioned to have Cahn's fuck abstraction! removed from the "My Serial Thought" show at the Palais de Tokyo, claiming the painting depicted "pedo-pornographic" material. France's State Council rejected the appeal and allowed the painting, which abstractly depicted the Bucha massacre by Russian troops.
In 1998, Cahn won the Käthe Kollwitz Prize awarded by the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
In 2024, Cahn received the Goslarer Kaiserring.
Collections Cahn's works can be found in numerous art collections around the world, among others at MoMA in New York, at the Tate Modern in London, at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Exhibitions
Individual exhibitions READING DUST, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2024 Miriam CAHN: Ma pensée serielle, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2023 Miriam Cahn: ME AS HAPPENING, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), 2020–21 Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2019 Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, 2019 Miriam Cahn: I as Human, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2019 everything is equally important, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2019 DAS GENAUE HINSCHAUEN, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2019 ICH ALS MENSCH, Kunstmuseum Bern, 2019 devoir-aimer, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, 2017 mare nostrum, Meyer Riegger, Berlin, 2016 Lachen bei gefahr, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, 2012 Sarajevo, Stampa, Basel, 1993 Stampa, Basel, 1994 Nachkrieg-Vorkrieg (Was Fehlt), Stampe, Basel, 1992 Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, 1995 Verwandschaften, Galerie Espace, Amsterdam, 1991 Verwandschaften, Stampa, Basel, 1990 Verwandschaften, Art Frankfurt, 1990 Verwandschaften, Cornerhouse, Manchester, 1990 Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1988 Van de Loo, Munich, 1988 Lesen in Staub, Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, 1988 Lesen in Staub, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, 1988 Lesen in Staub/Weibliche Monate, Kunstverein Hannover, 1988 Musée Rath, Geneva, 1988 Lesen in Staub/Strategische Orte, Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf, 1987 Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, 1987 Galerie Vorsetzen, Hamberg, 1987 Stampa, Basel, 1987 Strategische Orte, DAAD, Berlin, 1986 Strategische Orte, Stampa, Basel, 1986 Strategische Orte, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, and Kunstmuseum, Bonn, 1985 Strategische Orte, Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich, 1985 Das Klassische Lieben, Musée la Chaux-de-Fonds, 1984 Das Klassische Lieben, Galerie Grita Insam, Vienna, 1984 Das Klassische Lieben, Stampa, Basel, 1984 Das Klassische Lieben, Kunsthalle Basel, 1983 Wach Raum 1, Konrad Fischer, Zurich, 1982 Stampa, Basel, 1977, 1979, 1981
Selected group exhibitions Documenta 14, Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany, 2017 21st Sydney Biennal, 2018 Prière de toucher – Le tactile dans l'art, Museum Tinguely, Basel, 2016 Module mai, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2010 Sammlung Van de Loo, Neue National galerie Berlin, 2004 Where Is Abel, Your Brother?, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, 1995 From Beyond the Pale, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 1994 Centre d'Art Contemporian, Geneva, 1994 Zur Sache Selbst, Künstlerinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts Museum, Wiesbaden, 1990 Triennal de Dibuix, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1989 Sydney Biennal, 1986 Crosscurrents in Swiss Art, Serpentine Gallery, London, 1984 Documenta, Kassel, Germany, 1982 Feministische Kunst International, Frauenzimmer, Basel, 1979 Claudia Martínez Garay and Miriam Cahn: Ten Thousand Things, Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, 2020
References
Further reading Schmetterling, Astrid. "Cahn, Miriam." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, (accessed 18 February 2012; subscription required). ed. Marta Dziewańska. "MIRIAM CAHN: I AS HUMAN". Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2019).
External links Entry for Miriam Cahn on the Union List of Artist Names. Cahn's Collections at Cura Magazine