Time-capsule house of Aussie artist to the stars for sale

Award — winning artist Louis Kahan in his studio. Picture: Joe Sabljak.

Famous Australian artist Louis Kahan’s museum-like Melbourne house is in the frame for a $2.3m-$2.5m sale.

Mr Kahan, who died in 2002, won the 1962 Archibald Prize for his painting of writer Patrick White.

Other creatives captured by Mr Kahan included iconic US actor and comedian Bob Hope, singer Bing Crosby, opera stars Luciano Pavarotti and Dame Joan Sutherland, Australian actor Alan Marshall, composer Igor Stravinsky and violinist Yehudi Menuhin, plus the art critic, writer and producer Robert Hughes.

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Earlier in life, after arriving in Paris in 1925, Mr Kahan designed costumes for celebrated dancer, actor, singer and World War II spy Joséphine Baker and the renowned music hall Folies Bergère.

Mr Kahan served as a war artist during WWII and sketched post-war trials of accused Nazi collaborators for the French newspaper Le Figaro.

In 1950, after moving to Melbourne, the Viennese-born artist worked in stage and costume design for The National Theatre and the Australian Opera.

His family is selling the three-bedroom abode at 11 Second Ave, Kew, that served as Mr Kahan’s home for about six decades.

The house features a distinctive facade and yellow sloping roof.

Artist Louis Kahan beside his portraits of Robert Hughes (top), whom The New York times dubbed the most famous art critic in the world, and artist Albert Tucker (bottom) at the Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne, in 1997. Picture: John Feeder.

Mr Kahan’s portrait of author Patrick White, which won the 1962 Archibald Award, and is now held at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Large windows take in the verdant garden.

The mid-century house was originally designed by architect Ernst Milston in 1960 and extended by the noted Australian modernist Kevin Borland a decade later.

Circa Property director Christine Henderson described the residence as an important part of Melbourne’s artistic history, with Mr Kahan’s easels and artistic supplies still set up in the studio.

“It’s so beautiful, I have seen a lot of mid-century homes and this one is really unique, it’s like a museum” Ms Henderson said.

Circa Property director Christine Henderson’s fox terrier dog, Benjamin, stars in some of the listing photos – including in Mr’s Kahan’s studio.

Mr Kahan’s art supplies are still set up, and will be retained his family following the house’s sale.

Singer, dancer and actor Josephine Baker, whom Mr Kahan created costumes for in Paris, aided the French Resistance during World War II. She also worked with the British Secret Intelligence Service and the US Secret Service.

The house is set on a 650sq m block.

The house features a distinctive geometric facade, wall-to-wall glazing, timber panelling, an open fireplace in the main living area and a cellar concealed behind a hidden door.

One of the downstairs bedrooms has a walk-in wardrobe and accesses a north-facing terrace, while some of the garden’s plantings are listed on Boroondara Council’s significant trees register.

Ms Henderson said that Mr Kahan’s family were hoping to sell the house to an owner-occupier who appreciated its history and character, rather than a developer.

Several artworks are displayed throughout the house, and some will be acquired by galleries and museums following the home’s sale.

Artistic touches and family memories.

US actor Bing Crosby with Grace Kelly in the 1956 film High Society. Mr Kahan sketched Crosby in Hollywood.

Many of the interested buyers are architects “who can see the potential”.

“They have been really enamoured by it, it’s like a time capsule,” Ms Henderson added.

“It has an incredible floorplan and flow that and the studio would make an incredible master bedroom, there’s a bathroom in there.”

Mr Kahan’s work is held in many Australian and international galleries including the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Portrait Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre,

British Museum and Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

The bathroom has been updated in keeping with the home’s mid-century character.

A photo of Mr Kahan and his wife, Lily, in the main living area next to the open fire.

Opera singers Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, aka The Three Tenors, at Wembley Stadium in 1995. Pavarotti was another of Mr Kahan’s artistic subjects.

Hundreds of his portraits of wounded Allied soldiers from WWII are exhibited in the Red Cross Museum, Washington.

In the 1940s, Mr Kahan – who was acquainted with legendary film directors Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger – sketched the likes of Hope, Crosby and actor Randolph Scott on film sets in Hollywood.

Mr Kahan was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australian cultural life in 1993.

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