Sketch for Tapestry, 1976

Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto

Marie Fleming, Canadian Tapestries, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1977, pages 5 and 7, listed page 8 Adele Freedman, Gershon Iskowitz: Painter of Light, Toronto/ Vancouver, 1982, page 132

Gershon Iskowitz remains one of the most unique post-war artists in Canadian art. With works inspired by the landscape, but executed in a distinctly complex abstract style, the artist is an enduring tour de force and was a natural selection for the 1977 Tapestry Project. Spearheaded by Fay Loeb of Toronto, the project sought a Canada- wide representation of painters and sculptors in the form of tapestry editions. Positioned to be affordable, accessible and distinctly modern in aesthetic, the works were meant to represent leading Canadian artists of the time. Over the course of two years, twenty-three artists from across Canada were invited to create small scale ‘cartoons’ of their proposed tapestry work, which were then transformed by skilled artisans in a workshop. It is important to note that the tapestries were not just an existing painting transposed, but rather intentionally designed works mindful of the fibre materials used for the final tapestry. Iskowitz’s “Sketch for Tapestry” was designed to translate seamlessly into the textile medium, exemplified by the large and clearly defined signature and date at the lower right and generously spaced colour forms. The artist’s sketch is duplicated with exacting precision in the final tapestry work - every colour form expertly scaled and matched. The work is also an excellent example of the artist’s evolution in 1976 to a new set of Variations. Throughout his Seasons series of 1975, the artist had fused some of the best elements of this practice with bold colour, dramatic use of space and produced tension within the abstracted works. Having met his limit with this exploration, the artist turned to an even deeper exploration of form by reducing the number of dots on the canvas “from tumultuous torrents to minor flurries—a veritable nature in close-up. Then he turned to an investigation of light using deep bold reds and blues as his matrixes and devoted a series to each colour.” This intimate work is a testament to this period of the artist’s practice in the mid-1970s and is a strong example of Iskowitz’s distinctive style.