‘Somehow the Ill Winds of War Have Been Favourable to Me’

Abstract

Jewish émigré designers who fled Nazi persecution and anti-Semitism before, during and after the Holocaust transformed Australian aesthetics in art and design. One such émigré was Louis Kahan. Born in Austria in 1905, Kahan trained as a tailor and costumer in Paris before the Second World War, immersing himself in European avant-garde aesthetic practices. Threatened with deportation as an enemy alien, he instead joined the French Foreign Legion and spent the remainder of the war in North Africa further developing his artist craft before migrating to Australia. There Kahan continued to work as a prominent artist, set and costume designer. He continued to travel, returning frequently to Paris, and intersecting with other creative practitioners. Émigrés like Kahan embody a history that is intrinsically geographical. This chapter examines design influences through an engagement with transnational and diasporic histories, explored through Kahan's life and work. Charting his journey from Austria to Australia, it presents the reception of his work in various contexts, examining how his training, artistic practice and experiences travelled with him. Kahan's material and imaginative journeys are then used to inform new approaches to curatorial practice, illustrating a nuanced reading of the impact of Jewish émigré designers in Australia.