John Kane

John Kane (1860-1934) was a Scottish-born American primitive painter who specialized in landscapes and scenes of the industrial environment in and around Pittsburgh, Pa.

John Kane was born in West Calder, Scotland, and as a teen-ager worked in the coal mines. After he arrived in America in 1879, he again worked as a miner and also as a street paver, carpenter, house painter, and lumber cutter. He settled in Pittsburgh and by 1890 had begun to draw in his spare time. He started attending art classes in the various cities where he was working, but each time he was forced to quit because of poverty. About the turn of the century, he lost his leg in a railway accident and had to give up his arduous jobs as a laborer.

Kane supported himself, in part, by painting freight cars and doing the lettering on the sides. Later he colored photograph enlargements. Often, he would use photographs as the original stimulus for some of his paintings. When he first began to paint, he submitted, as originals, paintings done right over enlarged photographs without knowing that this was unethical. In 1924 he submitted a painting to the Pittsburgh Carnegie Exhibition, but it was rejected, partly because it had been based closely upon a photograph.

About 1915 Kane began painting subjects based on his memories of Scotland and his impressions of the region about Pittsburgh. This work is marked by bright colors, a feeling for pattern, and a naiveté of handling in which sophisticated devices such as perspective and modeling are not attempted. His paintings are imbued with an attitude of affection for the people and places pictured.

One of Kane's most memorable paintings is his selfportrait (1929). The work shows the artist half-length, nude from the waist up, staring fixedly ahead at the spectator. He flexes his muscles, his fists meeting at the waist, his elbows jutting to the sides. The rigidity of the pose and the almost absolute symmetry of the design, with three concentric arches above the head, create a hieratic image of tension and power.

Recognition came to Kane late in life. With the support of another painter, who was a member of the jury of the Carnegie Exhibition, he began to be exhibited. In 1927 he was accepted in the Carnegie Exhibition, and his first oneman show was held in 1931, when he was over 70 years old. In 1936 his first one-man show abroad was held post-humously in London.

Further Reading

John Kane, Painter, edited by Leon A. Arkus (1971), reprints the artist's autobiography; it also includes a catalogue raisonné. Sidney Janis, They Taught Themselves: American Primitive Painters of the Twentieth Century (1942), contains quotations from Kane and some biographical material on him. □

Kane, John (1860–1934). American naive painter, born in Scotland, the son of a miner. He emigrated to the USA in 1879 and moved around a good deal working at various labouring jobs. However, he considered Pittsburgh his home: ‘I have worked in all parts of it, building the blast furnaces … the mills … The filtration plant, the bridges that span the river, all these are my own … I see it both the way God made it and as man changed it.’ In 1891 he lost a leg when he was struck by a train, but he became so agile with his artificial limb that few realized he was disabled. After his marriage in 1897 he worked as a painter of railway coaches, as a tinter of photographs, and as a housepainter. He took to drink after his son died soon after birth in 1904 and his wife consequently left him, taking their two daughters with her. Kane then led a wandering life, scraping a living by housepainting and carpentry. His first oil paintings were done c. 1910; he did portraits—an intense Self-Portrait (MOMA, New York, 1929) is his best-known work—landscapes, interiors, and cityscapes of industrial Pittsburgh, combining meticulous observation with naive stylization and imaginative reconstruction. He achieved sudden fame at the age of 67 when one of his paintings was accepted for the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh in 1927 (at the insistence of Andrew Dasburg, who was on the jury). Kane was the first American naive painter to achieve such recognition; some people thought his picture was a hoax, but in the remaining seven years of his life he achieved considerable acclaim and became something of a celebrity (in consequence of which he was re-united with his wife). His autobiography Sky Hooks (named after the supports of a housepainter's scaffold) was posthumously published in 1938.

Kane, John (b West Calder, 19 Aug. 1860; d Pittsburgh, 10 Aug. 1934). American naive painter, born in Scotland. He emigrated to the USA in 1879 and moved around a good deal, working at various labouring jobs. However, he considered Pittsburgh his home. In 1891 he lost a leg when he was struck by a train, but he became so agile with his artificial limb that few realized he was disabled. He took to drink after his son died soon after birth in 1904 and his wife consequently left him, taking their two daughters with her. Kane then led a wandering life, scraping a living by house painting and carpentry. His first oil paintings were done c.1910; he produced portraits—an intense self-portrait (1929, MoMA, New York) is his best-known work—landscapes, interiors, and cityscapes of industrial Pittsburgh, combining meticulous observation with naive stylization and imaginative reconstruction. In 1927 he achieved sudden fame, at the age of 67, when one of his paintings was accepted for the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh. Kane was the first American naive painter to achieve such recognition; some people thought his picture was a hoax, but in the remaining seven years of his life he achieved considerable acclaim and became something of a celebrity (in consequence of which he was reunited with his wife). His autobiography Sky Hooks (named after the supports of a house painter's scaffold) was posthumously published in 1938.

Kane, John (1860–1934). American naive painter, born in Scotland. He emigrated to the USA in 1879 and moved around a good deal working at various labouring jobs. However, he considered Pittsburgh his home. In 1891 he lost a leg when he was struck by a train, but he became so agile with his artificial limb that few realized he was disabled. He took to drink after his son died soon after birth in 1904 and his wife consequently left him, taking their two daughters with her. Kane then led a wandering life, scraping a living by housepainting and carpentry. His first oil paintings were done c.1910; he produced portraits—an intense Self-Portrait (1929, MoMA, New York) is his best-known work—landscapes, interiors, and cityscapes of industrial Pittsburgh, combining meticulous observation with naive stylization and imaginative reconstruction. In 1927 he achieved sudden fame, at the age of 67, when one of his paintings was accepted for the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh. Kane was the first American naive painter to achieve such recognition; some people thought his picture was a hoax, but in the remaining seven years of his life he achieved considerable acclaim and became something of a celebrity (in consequence of which he was reunited with his wife). His autobiography Sky Hooks (named after the supports of a housepainter's scaffold) was posthumously published in 1938.

John Kane 1860–1934, American primitive painter, b. Scotland. He came to Pittsburgh at the age of 19 and worked for years as a day laborer, painting in his spare time. His paintings exhibit a delight in precise pattern and a sturdy disregard for academic conventions. Examples of his work are Across the Strip (Phillips Memorial Gall., Washington, D.C.) and his striking self-portrait (1929; Mus. of Modern Art, New York City).

Bibliography: See his autobiography (1938).