Jacob Kainen studied at the Art Student's League, New York, New York University, Pratt Institute and George Washington University in Washington DC. He was a social realist in the 1930's working in color lithography. He was a printmaker with the New York City WPA from 1935 to 1942. His later work consists primarily of abstract paintings. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library and the National Museum.
From 1942-1970 he was curator of Graphic arts at the Smithsonian's U. S. National Museum and was curator of the department of Prints and Drawings at the Smithsonian's National Collection of Fine Arts from 1966 to 1969. He was the author of multiple exhibition catalogs and the 1956 monograph John Baptist Jackson: 18th-Century Master of the Color Woodcut and The Etchings of Canaletto which was published in 1967.