Lot 18: Gershon Iskowitz 1921 - 1988 Canadian oil on

Gershon Iskowitz 1921 - 1988 Canadian oil on canvas Orange Mauve-E (B95) "45 x 40 inches 114.3 x 101.6 centimeters on verso signed, titled and dated 1980 Provenance:Thielsen Gallery, London Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto Private Collection, Ontario Polish-born Gershon Iskowitz survived the horrors of Auschwitz to emigrate to Canada in 1949. His work was initially reflective of these experiences, and then moved into landscape and landscape abstractions. In 1967, he received a Canada Council grant and took a helicopter tour of the Churchill region of northern Manitoba. This experience would forever change his work - triggered by the aerial view of land and water, reflected light and vast spaces, his work changed immediately to reflect the memories of this trip. Visions of dancing patterns as the land moved below him were abstracted through his mind's eye. His work lost all connection to realism, and became instead "a curtain of dappled paint" in which large blotches of colour were layered one on top of the other in a glowing, floating mass that seemed almost able to lift off the canvas. His colour heightened in the 1980s to include bright hues, fluorescent tones, deep blacks and blues. His unique mature style is far from that of his early work and belies the horrors of his war experience. Joyous and light, these works speak of optimism, energy and life. "