Donation of ceramics to the Gardiner Museum

New to the collection! The Gardiner recently acquired two rare ceramic works by Danish-born Canadian illustrator and abstract painter Oscar Cahén (1916-1956).

After escaping war-torn Europe and settling in Canada in 1940, Cahén became one of the country’s most influential magazine illustrators and, later, a founding member of Painters Eleven, a pioneering group of abstract artists. He was also among a number of artists who experimented with ceramics in the mid-twentieth century. Well-known painters such as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Joan Miro (1893-1983), and Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) all worked in ceramics in the post World War II years. The medium was understood at the time as outside of the fine arts establishment, so represented both an alternative approach and an open field for experimentation.

Unmistakably Cahén, these two dishes relate directly to the artist’s abstract oil and watercolour paintings in their composition and palette. With works already on view in the galleries by Picasso and Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Cahén’s ceramics extend the story of mid-century painters exploring ceramics to Canada and illuminate how a Canadian artist was part of this same impulse.

Thank you to Michael and Maggie Cahén, the artist’s son and daughter-in-law, for this generous gift!

[1] Oscar Cahén (Canadian, born in Denmark, 1916-1956), Dish, c. 1954, Glazed earthenware, Collection of Maggie and Michael Cahén [2] Oscar Cahén (Canadian, born in Denmark, 1916-1956), Dish, 1954, Glazed earthenware, Collection of Maggie and Michael Cahén

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