Genre painter. Born in Ebersbach, Saxony, Germany on Jan. 7, 1829. At age 14 Hahn entered the Royal Academy o Art in Dresden where he studied for five years under Julius Huebner and continued for two more years at the Dusseldorf Academy. He received gold and silver medals from the Dresden Gallery. Some of his first watercolors were purchased by the King of Saxony and placed in the National Gallery in Dusseldorf. His paintings were exhibited in Boston, New York, and San Francisco including the California Art Union of 1865.

In 1869, Hahn met artist William Keith in Dusseldorf and in 1871 came with him to Boston where the two artists shared a studio. In 1872 the two artists came to San Francisco and established a studio in the Mercantile Library Building. Hahn's sketching trips took him to the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite, Napa Valley, Russian River, and Southern California. By 1876 he was a resident of the Bohemian Club and director of the San Francisco Art Association. The year 1878 was spent in New York and, while there, he exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the Brooklyn Art Association.

Upon returning to San Francisco, he exhibited locally and received high praise from the press. Hahn married local artist Adelaide Rising in Piedmont, CA in 1882 and then left for an extended European honeymoon. They lived in London for several years and intended to return to California; however, he died unexpectedly in Dresden on June 8, 1887. Although he painted portraits and still lifes of fruits and flowers, it is his genre scenes which are his greatest legacy to California art.

Exhibited: Mechanics' Institute Fairs, 1874-82; San Francisco Art Association, 1873-80; California State Fair, 1881; California Midwinter Fair, 1894; Alaska-Yukon Exposition, Seattle, 1909; Oakland Museum, 1976 (solo)

Works held: Oakland Museum; deYoung Museum (Sacramento Railroad Station); Los Angeles County Museum; California Historical Society; National Gallery, Dusseldorf; Society of California Pioneers; Crocker Museum, Sacramento; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York; California Palace of the Legion of Honor; Dresden Museum

(Source: Hughes, Edan Milton, "Artists in California: 1786-1940," San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989.)