Joan Kahr, a prominent decorative arts historian, is the author of Edgar Brandt: Master of Art Deco Ironwork (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999) the first definitive work on the most influential ironsmith of the twentieth century. The preface to her book is by François Brandt, son of the late, great artisan. Kahr explores Brandt’s multi-faceted career as a pioneering artist-metalsmith, influential designer and successful entrepreneur.

Kahr came upon Brandt’s work while studying for her master’s degree in the history of European decorative arts at the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian and Parsons School of Design. To prepare for her recently published book on Brandt, Kahr drew on extensive interviews with Brandt’s family and former colleagues, as well as period accounts taken from the art and design press of the day. She traveled extensively throughout Europe interviewing master craftsmen who worked in Paris at that time.

In order to learn more about iron forging tehniques, Kahr became a member of the Artist-Blacksmiths Association of North America and observed demonstrations by practicing blacksmiths in the United States. Eventually she stepped into the blacksmith’s shoes and forged her own iron planter. In the course of her research, she came into contact with Robert Aibel, owner and director of Philadelphia’s Moderne Gallery, who became a personal friend and enthusiast of the project. Aibel will present an exhibition and sale titled Edgar Brandt: Art Deco Ironwork and Photographs from the Atelier at the Moderne Gallery from October 8 to December 24, 1999.

A specialist in early twentieth century decorative ironwork, Kahr is a regular contributor to Metalsmith Magazine and has written for such publications as Art Deco News, The Anvil’s Ring and the American Craft Museum’s New Dimensions in Furniture catalogue. She has lectured extensively on Brandt and French ironwork at the Cranbrook Academy of the Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, in St. Louis for the Artists-Blacksmiths Association of North America, at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. She will be teaching a course on the history of cast and wrought iron for The Bard Graduate Center in New York City this fall.