John Kane

Background

He was born John Cain in West Calder, Scotland, United Kingdom, on August 19, 1860. His father died when he was age 10, leaving behind a widow and 7 children. His father was employed as a grave digger in West Caldey.

Education

He started attending art classes in the various cities where he was working, but each time he was forced to quit because of poverty.

Career

As a teenager he 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.

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. 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. 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 one-man show was held in 1931, when he was over 70 years old. In 1936 his first one-man show abroad was held posthumously in London.

Achievements

• He was the first self-taught American painter in the 20th century to be recognized by a museum. He specialized in landscapes and scenes of the industrial environment in and around Pittsburgh, Pa. His most important works: his Selfportrait, Scene in the Scottish Highlands. After he was accepted in the Carnegie Exhibition, his first one-man show was held, when he was over 70 years old. His first one-man show abroad was held posthumously in London.

Works

• book

  • Paintings By John Kane (1860-1934)

Connections

Kane had married Maggie Halloran in 1897 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Pittsburgh. The death of an infant son in 1904 led him into a vortex of drinking and depression, which caused long periods of wandering. He remained separated from his wife and children.

Spouse:

Maggie Halloran

influencer:

Andrew Dasburg

older brother:

Patrick Kane