A native New Yorker, Susan Kahn studied advertising, illustration, art history, and design at Parsons School of Design and studied figurative painting under Social Realist artist Moses Soyer (1889 – 1974). She exhibited regularly in New York at the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, Audubon Artists, and ACA Galleries. This view of her studio likely shows a self-portrait of the artist considering a painting leaning on the floor.