The Humor of Adolf Dehn

Harmon-Meek|modern will feature paintings, drawings and lithographs by Adolf Dehn (pronounced Dane) (b. 1895 d. 1968) which highlight the humorous view he took to depicting the people and situations that amused him. Scenes of well-dressed ladies kicking up their heals in a patriotic parade, of the relationship between husbands and wives, and of nuns and priests in parks, are all included in this special feature.Of his early drawings, Roger L. Selby, director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art, in an essay for the Adolf Dehn: A Life’s Work 1922-1967 exhibition catalog warns that “while one may be tempted to read criticism into some of his depictions, a better case might be made that the exaggerations of his subjects were because they naturally lent themselves to distortion for the purpose of humor.” Roger adds that “whether the subject is a group of orthodox Jews, nuns, showgirls or elderly ladies gossiping, Dehn is never mean – simply a humorist and a humanist musing and amusing”.