Oscar Cahén

Oscar Cahén
Life & Work by Jaleen Grove
1993
2011
March–May 1993, The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada: The 1950s, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa;
toured to Quebec City, Regina, Calgary, Hamilton.
October 2011, Oscar Cahén: Canada’s Groundbreaking Illustrator, Illustration House, New York; toured to
Calgary, Banff.
Selected Writings by the Artist
Oscar Cahén wrote poems, short stories, and music, only a few examples of which
survive in The Cahén Archives. He also contributed one important essay on the status of
illustration:
“Editorial Art in Canada in 1953.” Art Directors Club of Toronto Annual. Toronto: Art
Directors Club of Toronto, 1954, 54.
Selected Critical Writing
Although very few scholars have accessed Oscar Cahén’s papers and oeuvre, many
unverified claims have been repeated for years. Factual errors exist in some of the
studies on the artist produced before this one, which will also have to be reviewed as
new information comes to light. Nevertheless, previous scholarship brings invaluable
perspectives to the appreciation of Oscar Cahén.
Burnett, David. Oscar Cahén. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1983.
Dault, Gary Michael. “Oscar Cahén: In Search of Lost Fame.” Border Crossings, no. 91
(August 2004): 58–63.
Finlay, Karen. “Identifying with Nature: Graham Sutherland and Canadian Art, 1939–
1955.” Canadian Art Review 21, nos. 1–2 (1994): 43–59.
Grove, Jaleen. “Oscar Cahén: Bringing Things into the Light.” In Oscar Cahén:
Canada’s Groundbreaking Illustrator. New York: Illustration House, 2011.
–––, ed. Proceedings of the Cahén Colloquium II (2015).
Smart, Tom. Various postings on Oscar Cahén under “Research.” Smart on Art,
September–December 2011. http://www.smartonart.ca/index.cfm/Research.
Exhibition catalogue for the Art Gallery of
Ontario’s major retrospective exhibition of Cahén’s
work, organized by David Burnett in 1983
Spalding, Jeffrey. “Oscar Cahén, Painter Extraordinaire—Oscar, Celebrated Illustrator.”
Today’s Inspiration, October 31, 2012.
http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.ca/2012/10/oscar-cahen-painter-extraordinaire.html.
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