Lot Essay
Walter Hahn (1927-2017) was an innovative and renowned artist, who was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1955 for his oil paintings. In the 1950s, he became deeply interested in and inspired by Asian art, studying traditional calligraphy and painting, and exhibiting internationally as a maker of tea scoops for the Japanese Tea Ceremony (Chashaku). Mr. Hahn travelled extensively throughout Asia and was among the first Americans to travel to China as a member of a U.S. artistic delegation. He befriended many artists, visited art institutions, and built an extensive collection of Chinese classical and contemporary paintings. In New York, he was a student of C.C. Wang and friends with Wang Fangyu, among others.