16th–17th century Dutch, Spanish, and Venetian painting, feminist art history
Notable work
Dutch Painting In The Seventeenth Century (1982)
Spouse
Sidney Kahr (m. 1936–1975; death)
Children
2
Madlyn Millner Kahr[1] (néeMadlyn Millner; 1913–2004) was an American art historian and educator. She specialized in the study of 16th–17th century painting of Dutch, Spanish, and Venetian origins, and feminist art history. Kahr was professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego.[2] She authored the books, Velázquez: The Art of Painting (1976), and Dutch Painting In The Seventeenth Century (1982).[3]
Early life and education
Madlyn Millner was born on June 30, 1913, in New Jersey, U.S.. She studied at Barnard College in New York City, and received a B.A. degree in 1933.[4] While attending undergrad, she served as the editor of Barnard Bulletin, the school newspaper.[4] Kahr followed with further study at New York University Institute of Fine Arts where she received a M.A. degree and PhD.[3] Her dissertation was titled, The Book Of Esther In Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art (1968, New York University).
In 1936, she married psychiatrist Sidney Kahr, they had two children.[5][6][7]
She wrote on artists, including Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Velázquez; and also wrote about female archetypes in art, such as Delilah, and Danaë. In the book Feminism And Art History (1982), the chapter Delilah by Kahr used an iconographic approach when reviewing male artists' treatment of the Delilah theme in their work, which demonstrated stereotypes of women.[9][10]
