john kane // biography (1860-1934) / gallery

//John Kane//

Known as: Folk and naïve (primitive) artist

Born: 1860, West Calder, Scotland

Died: 1934

John Kane left Scotland with his family at the age of 19 and emigrated to Braddock, Pennsylvania, US. He had worked as a labourer in Scotland and continued this occupation in the US. He only started sketching at the age of 30 and when, in 1891, he lost a leg in a train accident and was forced to give up more strenuous work, he made a living through jobs like house painting and enlarging and coloring photographs.

He married Maggie Halloran in 1897, but when their infant son died in 1904 and he began to drink heavily, she left him.

He moved around to find work but continued to paint though could never afford to go to art school.

He died at the age of 74.

Trivia:

In 1927, the Carnegie International exhibition accepted one of John Kane's paintings. It was his third attempt to have one accepted. Thereafter, he participated in ths prestigious annual event in each of the remaining seven years of his life
To earn a living, he had worked in coal mining, farming, carpentry and house painting
The first museum to acquire a John Kane painting was the Phillips Memorial Gallery
Towards the end of his life, he was forced to turn more and more to painting to earn money as old age and the Depression severly limited job opportunities for him
He achieved some sort of fame in his lifetime; fortune came too late to be of any use to him. He spent his final days in the slum conditions of Pittsburgh.

//Gallery//