Gershon Iskowitz

When Polish Canadian painter Gershon Iskowitz first applied to immigrate to Canada after surviving the Holocaust, he was rejected on account of a limp he acquired while trying to escape the Buchenwald concentration camp. Upon his second application, Iskowitz decided to rely on an old friend—"Always when my life was in danger," stated Iskowitz "I did a drawing and pulled through." Delighted by the drawing sent along with Iskowitz's second application, the immigration official declared Gershon a genius, predicted a great future for the artist in Canada, approved his emigration application and said that Gershon would have special privileges on the voyage to his new home. Inspired by the landscapes of his new home country, his bright colors and patterns evoke a deep sense of love and an unincumbered joy. 

Iskowitz's work has been extensively exhibited and collected throughout Canada, as well as New York, and London. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and 1982, the Art Gallery of Ontario awarded the artist with a forty-year retrospective, part of which travelled to London.