Walter Benedict Cahn

1933 - 2020

Cahn, Walter Benedict
Walter Benedict (Baruch ben Otto) Cahn
September 24, 1933-May 29, 2020
Walter Benedict (Baruch ben Otto) Cahn died on May 29, 2020, at his home in Hamden, CT, USA, at the age of 87.
Walter was born on September 24, 1933, in hospital in Karlsruhe, Germany. He was the second son of Otto and Frieda [b. Kahn] Cahn of R?lzheim (Rheinland Palatinate), his older brother being Norbert Simon Cahn (later Mason), born on February 10, 1930. The family had a history of many centuries in the Rhineland.
In the days following the events of 10 November 1938 (Reichspogromnacht), the family home was seized and the family expelled from R?lzheim, moving to a flat at 166 Kaiserstrasse in Karlsruhe.
In the immediate wake of Germany's invasion of France in October 1940, the Cahns were expelled, together with a number of thousands of other Rhineland Jews into what subsequently became Vichy France. They were placed in an internment camp at Gurs, near Oloron (Pyrenées-Atlantiques) in southwest France, and subsequently transferred to another camp, at Rivesaltes (Pyrenées-Orientales) near Perpignan.
In 1941, Walter and his brother Norbert were placed for reasons of safety with the children's home of the Éclaireurs Israëlites de France at 18 rue du Port, Moissac (Tarn-et-Garonne). Walter attended the École Saint-Benoît primary school. The two brothers remained in Moissac until 1943.
On September 11, 1942, Walter and Norbert's parents Otto and Frieda Cahn were deported from Rivesaltes to Drancy, and presumably on to Auschwitz, where they were killed. Otto and Frieda Cahn are officially listed as "Verschollen" ("lost").
During the period 1943-1945, Walter and his brother lived in hiding places provided by the French resistance at Le Sappey (Isère) near Grenoble, La Grave (Hautes-Alpes), and the Duplan family farm at Poët-Laval (Drôme). They fitfully attended local primary schools.
Following liberation, during 1945-1947, orphaned, the brothers returned to Moissac children's home, re-established at the Hôtel du Vieux Moulin. They attended the Collège de Moissac (secondary school), and with the assistance of the Red Cross made contact with family in the United States who had succeeded in fleeing Germany before it had become impossible.
In January 1947, Walter and Norbert immigrated to the United States. He lived at 141 Rogers Avenue, Brooklyn, home of Siegmund and Paula Kallmann (b. Cahn), Paula being one of his father's sisters. He also stayed during summers with Louis and Lucie Willstätter (b. Cahn), one of his father's sisters, in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he held summer jobs at a local movie theater and department store.
From 1947-1948, Walter attended P.S. 138 in Brooklyn, NY, and then from 1948-1952, he attended the School of Industrial Arts (now School of Art and Design) in New York. Walter held part-time jobs at a second hand bookstore on Fourth Avenue, the Ted Moskowitz art studio, and other commercial art studios. He graduated as Valedictorian from the School of Industrial Arts in May 1952. He was admitted to Cooper Union and Pratt Institute with a full scholarship, and he attended Pratt from 1952-1956.
During the 1950s, concurrently with his studies, Walter worked at Emet Advertising, as a packaging designer for Norbert Jay, Empire State Building (1953); as a part-time designer at William Douglas McAdams Advertising Agency (1955-1956); and as a part-time designer at William Douglas McAdams (1958-1960).
From 1956-1958, Walter served in the United States Army Medical Corps, stationed at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC.
Following the end of his military service, during the period 1958-1962, Walter undertook graduate study in Art History, at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1961, and a Ph.D. in Medieval Art History in 1967. His doctoral dissertation was published in 1976 as The Romanesque Wooden Doors of Auvergne.
Walter's professional career was spent primarily at Yale University where he rose from Acting Instructor (1965-1967) to Assistant Professor (1967-1968) to Associate Professor (1968-1976) to Professor (1976- 1986). In 1986, he was named Carnegie Professor of the History of Art, a position he held until 2002. He several times served as Chair of the Yale Art History Department. Walter retired from active teaching in 2002, but continued to serve as Emeritus, including continuing to publish and advise the work of younger professionals.
Walter served as editor or on the editorial boards of publications including Gesta, Art Bulletin and Arte medieval, including a term as Editor-in-Chief of Art Bulletin (1988-1991). He also acted as scientific adviser to the journal Histoire de l'art (1997-2002).
During the course of his career Walter also undertook Fulbright Fellowship in Paris (1962-1963); was Senior lecturer at Ravensbourne College of Art, Bromley, Kent (England) (1963-1965); Visiting Associate Professor, Columbia University (1974); John Simon Guggenheim Fellow (1981); and Lecturer, Centre d'Études Romanes, University of Poitiers (1981).
Among high honors, in 1989, Walter was elected Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. An exhibition at Yale's Beinecke Library was held in 2003 to in his honor. In 2014, Walter was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Walter was widely published. His works include comprehensive studies in his field of expertise such as Romanesque Bible Illumination (1982) (also published as Die Bibel in der Romantik and as La Bible romane), as well as theoretical explorations into the Philosophy of Art, most notably Masterpieces: Chapters in the History of an Idea (1988). Throughout his life he remained relentlessly both curious and whimsical, exploring the fringes of artistic interpretation, once for example lecturing on the symbolism of the Starbuck's logo. In later life, he increasingly explored Jewish themes, including both in medieval art, as well as ranging out of exclusively medieval themes, undertaking research for example on the modernist German Jewish painter Max Liebermann (2007). He also paid extensive tribute in writing to his intellectual forebears such as Henri Focillon, as well as contemporaries such as Jonathan Alexander and James Marrow.
Walter was twice a widower: he married Annabelle Simon on May 29, 1960. Walter died on their 60th wedding anniversary.
Walter and Annabelle had one son – Claude – born on April 7, 1968. Walter and Annabelle remained married until her death in January 1996. Walter married Brenda Lee Danet in 2001, and remained married to her until her death in 2008. At the time of his death, Walter was romantically involved with Rosalyn Muskovits (nee Bloomfield), whom he first met while attending Pratt Institute in the 1950s. Walter's brother Norbert predeceased him in 2017.
Walter is survived by his son Claude Cahn and grandchildren Sarah Kali Cahn (b. March 25, 2008) and Johannah Shai Cahn (b. December 26, 2009), the children of Claude and his wife Cosmina Novacovici. His grandchildren knew him as "Papo Dude".
Private Funeral Services for Immediate Family only will be held at Mishkan Israel cemetery in New Haven, CT, in a plot adjoining his second wife, Brenda Lee Danet. A memorial service for Walter will be held in the Spring or Summer of 2021. The Robert E. Shure & Son Funeral Home, New Haven is in care of Arrangements. To sign an online registry book or to leave a message of condolence, please visit; www.shurefuneralhome.com.