Born in Poland, Gershon Iskowitz (1921-1988) began drawing and painting early in life, even before attending school. Incarcerated at Auschwitz in 1943, Iskowitz used his skills to survive. Art became for him a soothing distraction from the horrors of war. Liberated from Buchenwald on the defeat of Germany in 1945, he first spent time in hospital, then attended the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. He eventually sought to emigrate Canada, settling in Toronto in 1949, thereafter pursuing a career as an abstract artist.
