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Artists›Jacob Kainen

Jacob Kainen

1909–2001

WA-00022070

Waterbury, CT, USA

Printmaking

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

70%

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Cultural Positioning

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Authority Records (1)

WikidataQ15435214

Field Verification (4 fields)

3 cross-verified · 1 single-source

Is PublishedManual· 100%✓
BiographyWikidata· 92%✓
Birth yearArtsy· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%

Source Registry (1)

Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15435214
Tier 1 · Institutional40%

About

Why this artist matters now

Jacob Kainen was an American painter and printmaker whose abstract work emerged from a rigorous engagement with color theory and gestural mark-making. Active from the 1930s through the 1990s, he developed a distinctive approach to non-representational painting that emphasized the structural possibilities of the canvas surface. His practice bridged early modernism and postwar abstraction, moving between printmaking and large-scale painting with equal technical command. Kainen's work is held in major American collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Source: Wikidata · Trust score: 40% · Updated 19d ago

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Movement

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Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (11)

WattsOS

The Way LXIV

1982 · Oil on linen

Overall: 60 × 72 in. (152.4 × 182.9 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

WattsOS

Bright Afternoon

1978 · India ink

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

Bright Morning

1978 · India ink

Cleveland Museum of Art

Peter the Great

1973 · Color lithograph on paper

Image: 72.5 × 53 cm (28 9/16 × 20 7/8 in.); Sheet: 81.2 × 60.2 cm (32 × 23 3/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Rampant

1973 · Lithograph on paper

76.2 × 58.5 cm (30 × 23 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Tblisi Rose

1973 · Lithograph

irreg composition 28 1/4 x 20 1/4" (71.7 x 51.4 cm)

irreg composition 29 3/8 x 20 1/8" (74.6 x 51.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Starbuck I

1972 · Color lithograph on white wove paper

Image: 64.2 × 49.1 cm (25 5/16 × 19 3/8 in.); Sheet: 72.5 × 56 cm (28 9/16 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Flood

1937 · Lithograph

Image: 10 3/4 in. × 14 in. (27.3 × 35.6 cm) Sheet: 12 1/2 in. × 16 in. (31.8 × 40.6 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Landscape with Figures

1935 · Lithograph on off-white wove paper

Image: 36.6 × 27.6 cm (14 7/16 × 10 7/8 in.); Sheet: 46 × 35.9 cm (18 1/8 × 14 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Bright Afternoon

etching

Cleveland Museum of Art

View all 11 artworks →

Artwork sources (5)

11 published of 11 catalogued · 4 with image

Art Institute Chicago
4 published4 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
3 published
MoMA
2 published
The Met
1 published
Whitney
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 3)

3 entries · 1 sources

Bright Afternoon
— · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Bright Afternoon
1978 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Bright Morning
1978 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy

Wikipedia

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Collections2

Art Institute of Chicago Whitney Museum of American Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

Record

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