Duncan Hannah

Duncan Hannah was a painter who loved escapism in all its forms. He was also devoted to books, music and art, but it was only with film that he was able to express his love of flesh and fantasy on canvas. Born in Minneapolis in 1952, as the golden age of Hollywood was entering its sunset years, Duncan’s parents took him to see movies of their own choice to avoid hiring a babysitter. Thus, at the age of eight he watched Psycho on the big screen, with his mother attempting to shield his eyes when Janet Leigh stepped into the shower. At fourteen, the battle of the hands continued when Jane Birken stripped off for David Hemmings in Blow Up. This, perhaps, began a pattern of cinematic voyeurism in Duncan’s art that was to continue throughout his career.

Moving to New York in 1973, Duncan’s exposure to old cinema expanded way beyond late-night television reruns. With the range of art movie houses in Manhattan his tastes grew more eclectic, and he became immersed in foreign films, particularly French ones. He adopted the fedora hat and trench coat of Alain Delon in Le Samouraï and the floppy-haired preppy look of François Truffaut’s muse, Jean-Pierre Léaud. In 1976 he starred in Unmade Beds, Amos Poe’s homage to A bout de souffle, substituting Paris with the streets and rooftops of downtown Manhattan. He went on to make several more films in New York over the decades.

Duncan loved watching moving pictures, but what he really loved were actors, and more specifically actresses. He watched the best and he watched the very worst films in pursuit of actresses who caught his eye. He was not particular about genre, format or era: a pretty girl was a pretty girl, regardless of costume, and if he found an image of her minus her costume then so much the better. But Duncan also loved the glamour and mystery of mainstream Hollywood movies: the Cold War spies of his youth were inspiration for his paintings of escape across Europe via train, steam ship or Citroën. And beneath the veneer, the seediness of Hollywood was hugely fascinating to Duncan—among his many books on the subject were at least five copies of Kenneth’s Anger’s Hollywood Babylon, all seemingly well read.

Duncan watched at least one film a day but more often two—film was the fuel that fired his art.‎

—Megan Wilson

Duncan Hannah was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1952. He attended Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, before transferring to Parsons School of Design in New York, New York, in 1975.

Hannah's solo and group exhibitions include “Duncan Hannah: On Paper” at Kasmin Gallery in 2023; Tennis Elbow at The Journal Gallery in New York, New York (2023); Althuis Hofland Gallery in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2023); Alon Seger Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel (2021); Althuis Hofland Gallery in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2020); Saatchi Gallery in London, England (2019); Galerie Pixi in Paris, France (2019); Sam Parker Gallery in Los Angeles, California (2018); "Club 57" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York (2017); Althuis Hofland Gallery in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2017); Half Gallery in New York, New York (2017); and "Dandy" at Jeff Bailey Gallery in Hudson, New York (2016). Work by Hannah is held in numerous public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York; the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois; the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota; the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia; the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Duncan Hannah died in Cornwall, Connecticut, in 2022.