Kahn, Gustave

Date born: 1859

Place born: Metz

Date died: 1936

Place died: Paris

Theorist, critic, and historian of French Symbolism. Kahn studied at the École des Chartres, and the École des Langues Orientales, and began writing poetry in 1879. After serving in the French military from 1880-1884, he moved to Paris and joined the Parisian literary scene. In 1886, Kahn discussed his theories on Symbolism in an article entitled "Résponse des Symbolistes," where he called upon writers and artists to represent their observations of the world through symbols. He frequently published articles about Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Gustave Moreau, completing his first book of art criticism, Symbolists et décadents, in 1901. Kahn spent the last years of his life as an art critic for Mercure de France (1919) and Quotidien (1923). LMW