Artwork copyright Jacob Kohn. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Jacob Kohn. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Tiger Lagoon, 1984

Jacob Kohn
American (born 1942)

Location: Yakima Valley College, Yakima

About the Artwork

Tiger Lagoon is part of artist Jacob Kohn's body of paintings that highlight the play of light and reflection on the surface of water. His artworks reference paintings by Claude Monet and other impressionist painters. He notes, "I have continued over the years to use the realism of nature as a subject because it presents a language that best expresses the abstract energy and emotional color that I find essential in art… I love the tension created by objects such as leaves and lily pads as they hug the watery surface plane. Other effects include the complicated levels of space created by trees and plants reflected in water from above, and suggestions of life forms such as vines, leaves, and fish below the surface."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Yakima Valley College.

About the Artist

Seattle-based artist Jacob Kohn balances a studio practice in painting while creating murals for public spaces. Many of his artworks features aquatic imagery.
Kohn is a professor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in art and art education and Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.