Louis Kahan

Born into a family of master tailors in Vienna in 1905, Louis Kahan was drawn to art from an early age. He began as a child by sketching portraits of his father's clients, who included famous actors and musicians of the time. He obtained his masters diploma in tailoring as a young man and his life long fascination with the human form and the subject of creative people at work can be traced to this first trade. The discipline which the craft instilled in him also stayed with him, as did the typically Viennese love of music.

Kahan settled in Melbourne with his young family and established himself as a portrait artist. His work in this field included a series on artists and other celebrated Australians for The Age newspaper, later published as Australian Artists and Uncommon Men. National recognition of his work came with his 1962 portrait of writer Patrick White, which won the Archibald Portrait Prize that year.

Kahan continued to work and live life to the full until the last year of his life. In 1993 his contribution to Australian cultural life was recognised when he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO). On his 90th birthday his peers awarded him the Australian Painters and Sculptors Medal, an honour given only to a handful of artists.