October Auction

October Auction

Lot 166: Floris Arntzenius (Dutch, 1864-1925) Portrait of Henriette Strauss-Kahn 1919

2026-10-24T15:00:00Z

Start price: CAD $50

Floris Arntzenius (Dutch, 1864-1925) Portrait of Henriette Strauss-Kahn 1919

The auction will start in __ days and __ hours __ minutes

Start price: CAD $50

Description

Floris Arntzenius (Dutch, 1864-1925) Oil on canvas Portrait of Henriette Strauss-Kahn. Painted in 1919, this portrait depicts Henriette Strauss-Kahn, nee Kahn (1870-1942), at the age of 49. She is seated in a dark dress and pearls. An inscription on the reverse records her name, her birth in Schirrhoffen, Alsace, on 28 March 1870, and her marriage to Egon Strauss; it also bears the artist’s name and the date 1919. Measuring 40 inches H x 20.5 W.

Henriette belonged to a family closely associated with the Dutch luxury fashion trade. Her husband, Louis Egon Strauss, worked at Hirsch and Cie. in Amsterdam and later established Kuhne and Zn. in The Hague with Henriette’s brother Leon Kahn.
Henriette was murdered at Auschwitz on 5 October 1942. Her husband and both sons also died during the Holocaust. The Dutch Jewish Monument currently has no photograph of Henriette on her memorial page. This portrait is therefore a rare surviving portrayal of a woman whose likeness has otherwise been absent from that public record. We have reached out to the Jewish Cultural Quarter to share the painting and learn more about its historical significance.