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LOT 048

CSGA RCA
1919 - 1988
Canadian

Summer 77 #5
oil on canvas
on verso signed, titled, dated 1977 and stamped with the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation Inventory stamp #B61
70 x 78 in, 177.8 x 198.1 cm

Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000 CAD

Sold for: $79,250

Preview at:

PROVENANCE
Estate of the Artist
Gershon Iskowitz Foundation, Toronto

LITERATURE
Adele Freedman, Gershon Iskowitz: Painter of Light, 1982, page 148


With the current international immigration crises as a backdrop, it is poignant to think that the luminous paintings of an artist as talented as Gershon Iskowitz might never have come to fruition considering the fraught circumstances that brought him to Canada. Liberated from Buchenwald in 1945, he was finally granted passage to North America, arriving in Halifax and then Toronto in September 1948. Iskowitz’s transition from figurative work to pure abstraction was enthusiastically received in his first solo exhibition at the Dorothy Cameron Gallery, setting his future course. His most celebrated paintings are those he created following his biannual trips to the Arctic, beginning in 1967. Adele Freedman writes, “He felt confident enough, especially after his next flight to Yellowknife in 1977, to begin using deep purple and green matrixes blocked out in dense islands and studded with red, blue, yellow and green dots,” a description exemplified by Summer 1977 #5, a beautiful painting both bold and delicate in its execution.

Proceeds from this sale will benefit the charitable not-for-profit Gershon Iskowitz Foundation, which awards an annual prize, currently at $50,000, to a professional Canadian visual artist for their ongoing research and artistic production. Since 2006, in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, each prizewinner has presented a solo exhibition at the AGO (see www.iskowitzfoundation.ca for more information).


Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.