It is with great sadness that the QCC Art Gallery announces the passing of our dear friend and consultant, Leonard Kahan.

Leonard was born on January 21, 1935 in the Bronx, NY and studied art from his youth. An accomplished painter, he studied at the Arts Sudents League in 1951 – 1952 and later graduated with a BFA from Brooklyn College in 1957 and completed his MFA in 1964. He also taught Art from 1958 to 1968. His exhibitions of original works were extensive, with inclusions in exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Pratt Institute, Oberlin College and many others.

In the 1970’s Leonard Kahan and Albert Gordon opened the original “Tribal Arts Gallery” in New York City, with Leonard later opening Kahan Gallery, and moving the gallery to the SOHO art district until he retired as a gallerist in  2003.

From the 1970’s to the late 1990’s, Leonard traveled extensively in West Africa making over twenty trips to Countries as diverse as Ghana, Gabon and Liberia, and became well-known as an expert in the field of African Art and Art History. He was especially renowned for his expertise on the authentication of African Art based on his study of surfaces. Leonard had an encyclopedic knowledge of the ritual use of objects and the type of patination this would induce.

Leonard was also a highly regarded African Art Appraiser for over forty years and member of the American Appraisers Association.

His special relationship with the QCC Art Gallery began in 2002 and he remained one of our primary African Consultants until recently. Leonard was the first to help the QCC Art Gallery develop an African Art collection which he nurtured and constantly helped upgrade leading to a 2012 exhibition that he curated. Leonard remained active from that time helping to document the works that were gifted to the QCC Art Gallery.

He will be sorely missed for his knowledge, sense of humor and indefatigable enthusiasm for African art but most of all, his friendship.