Untitled by Maryon Kantaroff

Born in Toronto, Ontario, she graduated from the University of Toronto in Art and Archaeology in 1957. She then worked as Assistant Curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario but decided to take a post graduate course at the Chelsea College of Art, and at the British Museum. During this period she became interested in sculpture which she studied and worked at for six years.

She exhibited her work in several galleries in the United Kingdom, and did work for television and also architectural commissions. An exhibit of her work took place in the Main Lobby of the Toronto City Hall in August 1968 when Kay Kritzwiser of the ‘Globe & Mail’ noted, “Her current exploration in aluminum and cast fibre-glass, in resin and cement, made a strong frieze in the City Hall’s main lobby this week. But guests invited to a wine and cheese party by Aldermen Hugh J. Bruce and Michael Grayson, to see the Kantaroff’s sculptures, were also shown the obverse of her creative coin; a representational head of Tony Amodeo, Toronto, which will be cast in bronze … ‘Of course it’s strictly academic,’ Kantaroff said of the head. ‘I don’t feel I have the right to do anything but academic representation in portraiture.’ Her beautiful eyes flickered mischievously. ‘Not when it’s for a client.”

She gained an international reputation as an artist working in steel, resin and cement. She was awarded several architectural commissions in Canada. Her sculpture was also shown in Milan and Munich. She lived in the Chelsea area of London, England.

Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979