“Instead of being painted on the canvas, the figure began to emerge from the canvas. I never dreamed I would experience work like Sandorfi’s during my lifetime.  More to the point I never dreamed that I could be his agent that introduced him to the United States. Opening up an entirely new art world and market during the first Art Miami Fairs, where crowds were competing for his paintings.  We sold everything.”

-Jane Kahan

Characterized as “one of the most representative European artists of the transition from the mid-20th to the 21st century,” Hungarian artist Istvan Sandorfi (1948-2007) is examined in an extensive museum retrospective of his work at MEAM Barcelona.  FADA member Jane Kahan Gallery, located in New York City, was Sandorfi’s early primary dealer and lent eight works to the retrospective. While the scope of Sandorfi’s entire artistic career is explored in the exhibition, Jane Kahan Gallery’s close personal relationship with the artist and his practices enables an intimate understanding of his hyperrealist techniques. 

Gallerist Jane Kahan of Jane Kahan Gallery and Istvan Sandorfi

Additionally, Jane Kahan Gallery has contributed to the scholarship and encouraged public recognition of Sandorfi by showcasing his works at art fairs as well as mounting an exhibition of the artist in 2002.  Accompanying the 2002 exhibition catalog is an interview conducted between gallerist and artist. Jane Kahan’s questions reveal her intricate knowledge of the artist as she inquires about the methods and influences behind his dreamy oil canvases. He responds almost as fastidiously as his perfectly smooth canvases.

Istvan Sandorfi, L’Oeuil de Beata, 1996, Oil on canvas, Jane Kahan Gallery. 

While MEAM Barcelona’s retrospective of Istvan Sandorfi has perhaps solidified his artwork within the context of modern art history, Jane Kahan Gallery’s continuing support of the artist at the climax of his work reflects a gallery’s integral role in aiding the trajectory of an artist’s career.

“La Percee d’Isophobe,” 1997, Oil on canvas.  One of the eight canvases lent by Jane Kahan Gallery and exhibited at MEAM Barcelona.