It is somewhat hard to reconcile Gershon Iskowitz's (1921-1988) joyful aesthetic with his personal history.
Born to a religious family in Poland, Iskowitz was allowed to leave yeshiva (a Jewish seminary) in order to study art, including a brief stint at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
The outbreak of the second world war forced him to return to his hometown where shortly after he was conscripted to forced labor. In 1944 Iskowitz was transferred to Buchenwald, one of the first and most notorious Nazi concentration camps.
Upon liberation, Iskowitz spent nearly 9 months in the hospital recuperating. Amazingly he would study for six months at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich with Oskar Kokoschka.
Iskowitz would eventually immigrate to Canada. For most of the 1950s, he incorporated representation into his art with an emphasis on landscape. By the 60's he had established a modest reputation in Toronto and beyond, joining the Gallery Moos stable in 1964.
Between 1967 and 1976, Iskowitz would receive six Canada Council grants for his work, becoming one of the era's leading abstract artists. He represented Canada at the Venice Biennial in 1972. A retrospective of his work was held in 1984 at the Art Gallery of Ontario, AGO, travelling across Canada as well as to Canada House in London, England.
This work is a paradigm of Iskowitz's watercolors from the late 1970s. Made by dropping color onto dampened paper, Iskowitz's watercolours offer distinctive colourful clusters that vibrate across the page. Iskowitz was measured in his process so that each chromatic patch came across clearly, not muddied with one another. In "Red Blue," Iskowitz uses a starbursts of aquamarine blue, yellow with red on top, and a deep purple to create a thoughtful arrangement of color, shape, and process: a true celebration of color and medium.
Questions about this piece? Contact us, call +1.416.704.1720, or visit our Toronto Gallery.
"Untitled" ("Red-Blue")
Canada, 1978
Watercolor
Signed and dated by artist in pencil, lower right
13"H 22"W (sheet)
17"H 26"W (framed)
Framed with museum glass.
Very good condition
Note: additional framed images coming soon.
The price is $4,500 CAD
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