Gershon Iskowitz

Gershon Iskowitz was born in Kielce, Poland, on November 21st, 1921 . He never saw a painting until after the end of WWW II yet he began to draw at the age of four. He had little formal education and, with the exception of a six month association with Oskar Kokoschka, was a self taught artist.

"The Jewish environment in the Tsarist Pale of Settlement from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth was one long series of economic, cultural, political and economic oppression. These deprivations had deep effects on the physical, spiritual, and emotional life of the people."

Early Life

At the age of four he attended the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva. All the children's activities took place in the same big rooms. This constant noise greatly disturbed Gershon. After a year and a half he begged his father, Shmiel Yankl, to be allowed to return home and was given permission to do so.

He was tutored in Polish and placed in a public school. However the principal was the secretary of the Polish Nazi Party - Narodowa Demokracja. Thus Gershon was often bullied at school. He only lasted two and a half years at the school. This pattern of disconnection with educational institutions and self instruction continued throughout his life.

At the age of nine he offered to exchange original art posters for free admission to one week night screening and the six hour Saturday matinee at a local Jewish Cinema. The cinema owner agreed. Twice a week Gershon would take his sister, Devorah, to the movies. The owner of the second Jewish cinema asked for posters as well. This time Gershon charged a fee. After purchasing art supplies and ice cream he turned the balance over to his father.

Internment during WW II

He registered at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1939. But war broke out and he was forced to return to Kielce and put to forced labour. In September of 1943 the Kielce Ghetto was liquidated. Gershon and his brother, Yosl, were sent to Auschwitz. The rest of his family was sent to Treblinka where they perished.

Gershon painted or drew at night only after every one else was asleep as this was a forbidden activity. He said that it helped him deal with the hunger and the suffering. He was transferred to Buchenwald in the fall of 1944. Near the end of the war he tried to escape but was shot in the knee and broke his hip. After the April 11th liberation of Buchenwald he was sent to recuperate in hospital. Unable to walk for about a year he painted and drew.

From January to May of 1947 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts Munich and had private study with Oskar Kokoschka. He was expelled from the Academy for sneaking into a life drawing class instead of doing the still life projects assigned him. His defence was that he ate fruit and drank from bottles (the still life subjects) but drew people. He was reinstated at the school.

Life in Canada

Gershon's first application to move to Canada was rejected because he had a limp. "Always when my life was in danger," Iskowitz found "I did a drawing and pulled through." He returned and reapplied when the Canadian bureaucrat was drunk and drew him a picture. The fellow declared Gershon a genius, predicted a great future for him in Canada, approved his emigration application and said that Gershon would have special privileges on the voyage to his new home. Thus in 1949 he emigrated to Canada to stay with some relatives living in Toronto.

In 1952 he attended Artist's Workshop, Toronto (until 1959-60)and began sketching trips to Markham and Uxbridge.

In 1953 Gershon gave an art class in still life at [Holy Blossom Temple]]. But his students requested a life painting class. So he brought in Georgette Culot, a model. But her disrobing upset his conservative students. Then Iskowitz said to his model, "Georgette, please put your clothes back on - this is a holy place."

In 1954 he had his first exhibition with the Canadian Society of Graphic Artists. He also did some part-time teaching at McKellar Lake.

He moved to his own studio on Spadina Avenue, Toronto.

In 1964 he became associated with [|Gallery Moos]where he had many one-man exhibitions.

Gershon said 'there was that period after '65 for a while when people would say, 'Do you still paint?' and I'd say, 'Yes, yes, I still paint.' And they'd say painting is dead, you know. Or if they didn't say that they'd say, 'Why don't you use acrylics?' Well, I tried them, but I stayed with oils, and the watercolours I'd been doing since I was a kid. It doesn't matter what you use, it matters how you use it.'

In 1982 Gershon was honoured by the AGO with a forty year retrospective of his work. A subset of the exhibition was put on display in London, England. Gershon said [painting] "... is just an extension of myself. It's a plastic interpretation of the way I think. You reflect your own vision. That's what it's all about. Art is like evolution and life, and you've got to search for life, stand on your own feet and continue. The only fear I have is before starting to paint. When I paint, I'm great, I feel great."

In gratitude for the value that artistic grants had given to his career he established the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation in 1985. Its mandate was to award the annual [|Gershon Iskowitz Prize], in association with the Canada Council, of $25,000 to mature artists. The Foundation then partnered with the AGO in 2007 to award this prize.

In 1988 Gershon Iskowitz passed away in Toronto, Ontario.

One-Man Exhibitions

Year	Venue	City	Prov / State
1957	Hayter Gallery	Toronto	Ontario
1960-1	[|Here and Now Gallery]	Toronto	Ontario
1961	YMHA	Toronto	Ontario
1963	Dorothy Cameron Gallery	Toronto	Ontario
1964	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1966	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1967	Waterloo University	Waterloo	Ontario
1967	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1969	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1970	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1971	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1973	Hart House	Toronto	Ontario
1973	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1973	Rodman Hall Arts Centre	St. Catherines	Ontario
1972	Galerie Allen	Vancouver	British Columbia
1974	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1975	Glenbow-Alberta Institute	Calgary	Alberta
1975	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1976	Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University	Sackville	New Brunswick
1976	Canadian Art Galleries	Calgary	Alberta
1976	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1977	Martha Jackson Gallery	New York	New York
1977	Art Gallery of Nova Scotia	Halifax	Nova Scotia
1977	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1978	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1979	Thomas Gallery	Winnipeg	Manitoba
1979	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1979	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1980	Robertson Galleries	Ottawa	Ontario
1981	Gallery Moos	Toronto	Ontario
1982	Art Gallery of Ontario - Forty Year Retrospective	Toronto	Ontario

Winners of the Gershon Iskowitz Prize

Year	Artist
2010	Brian Jungen
2009	[|Shary Boyle]
2008	[|Françoise Sullivan]
2007	Mark Lewis
2006	Iain Baxter

Paintings Online

[|National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa]

[|University of Lethbridge Art Collection]

[|Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto]