Gershon Iskowitz
GERSHON ISKOWITZ "NEW GREENS-BLUES" 1975
Colour was fundamental to Gershon Iskowitz’s (1919-1988) practice.
He mixed his own pigments and carefully considered the relationships between individual hues, often allowing colour itself to determine the titles of his paintings. His process was intuitive but highly disciplined, with each successive application of paint contributing to an evolving balance across the surface. New Green-Blue exemplifies this tension between spontaneity and control: its forms appear organic and freely dispersed, yet the composition is carefully calibrated to sustain a continuous sense of movement.
By the mid-1970s, Iskowitz had transformed his experience of the Canadian landscape into a distinctly personal language of luminous colour and rhythmic abstraction. New Green-Blue is less a depiction of a particular place than an evocation of the sensations of looking, moving, and experiencing colour in space—an expression of the pictorial vocabulary he had developed over the preceding decade. Works from this period retain an underlying connection to his aerial visions of the Canadian landscape, but increasingly abandon recognizable references in favour of colour, rhythm, and movement.
In "New Greens-Blues," applications of candy green, denim blue, canary yellow, and deep purple are shining through and above a white-grey shroud. The result is a shifting field of forms that seem to advance, recede, and drift across the canvas. Iskowitz constructs spatial tension through the relationship between overlapping colour patches and the areas of painted ground that surround them.Â
The work plays with the perception of foreground and background: colours that initially appear to float against a distant field reveal, upon closer examination, a more complex layering of paint. Iskowitz effectively reverses the conventions of atmospheric perspective, making space something to be discovered through the interaction of colour rather than illusionistic depth.
This oversized painting is a perfect example of Iskowitz's iconic style. Completed in 1974, it is from an important and fruitful period of the artist's life, just two years after representing Canada at the Venice Biennale.Â
Questions about this piece? Contact us, call +1.416.704.1720, or visit our Toronto Gallery.
"New Greens-Blues"
Canada, 1975
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated verso
66"H 84"W (work)
68"H 86"W (framed)
Very good condition
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