Library and Archive Reading Rooms
View by appointment- Created by
- Erich Kahn 1904–1979
- Recipient
- Dr J. P. Hodin
- Title
- Letter from Erich Kahn to J.P. Hodin
- Date
- 17 June 1960
- Format
- Document - correspondence
- Collection
- Tate Archive
- Acquisition
- Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Tate, 2006. Accrual presented by Annabel Hodin, 2020
- Reference
- TGA 20062/4/188/19
Description
[Translation/transcription]
1 Albert Studios
4 Albert Street
London NW1
EUSTON 6507
17 June 1960
Dear Pepi,
I am just in the process of paying my debts, with heavy heart, and it occurs to me that I have another old debt to pay, thankfully one that won’t require a cheque or risk an overdraft: my old and perhaps long expired promise to write something about beauty. Well, let’s get the typewriter out and make things a little easier. From Stuttgart I hear that the exhibition has moved on to Erlangen. Meanwhile the town council of Hof in Bavaria has also expressed interest. They would like to have the pictures for two weeks from 15 September. I don’t think this will be any good for me because the industry barons in Erlangen will send the pictures back at their own expense, which the town council in Hof certainly won’t do, and I haven’t yet paid the fifteen guineas for transportation to Stuttgart. Besides that, although I do have a number of new paintings here, I can’t do without those two series for too long; I may need to exhibit them, if not sell them. Also, I still can’t get hold of the pictures I left behind after the exhibition at the Drian Gallery and I have no idea what has become of them and currently neither the time nor the energy to do anything about it. Herr Pollig said that the pictures had ‘come well’ (arrived, I suppose) and that I would certainly be pleased with the reviews, which he sent me as photocopies. Well, philistinism is putting it lightly; they were so much worse than the reviews in England that I was only moderately pleased. One critic expressed his satisfaction that the institute had made the acquaintance of a former resident Stuttgart who had ‘achieved rank and renown in the outside world’. Ha ha ha! They all stress the ‘radically abstract nature’ of the pictures, their strong, contrasting colours, the spirit of the music of Figaro palpably present in this alchemy of colour, the masterfully drawn drypoint etchings, etc etc. Nothing sold.
The remarks on beauty are as condensed as they can be and written in great haste. I might have more to say on the matter, but the main ideas are there in principle. Perhaps we can discuss it sometime.
Much love,
Erich
Archive context
- Papers of Josef Paul Hodin TGA 20062 (407)
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- Correspondence by sender TGA 20062/4 (275)
-
- Letters and postcards from Erich Kahn to J.P. and Pamela Hodin TGA 20062/4/188 (111)
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- Letter from Erich Kahn to J.P. Hodin TGA 20062/4/188/19