Macbeth Witch #1

Tony Scherman (b. 1950)
Contemporary painter Tony Scherman was an early proponent of the return to figuration in the 1970’s, contrary to the Pop and Conceptual Art currents that prevailed at the time. He is best known for his lush and textured portraits, contemporary meditations on historical and fictional figures. Scherman’s work is notable for his exclusive use of encaustic, an uncommon technique amongst contemporary painters, in which wax is combined with pigment. While his work evokes earlier masters from Rembrandt to Thomas Eakins, his portraits are thoroughly contemporary, staged in compositions that illuminate contemporary themes.

Born in Toronto, Scherman was educated in London, at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Royal College of Art, where he obtained his MA, returning to Toronto in the mid-1970s. His work has been widely exhibited in over 100 exhibitions in Canada and abroad. He has been featured in The New York Times, Art in America, Art Papers, and American Art Collector. The paintings of Tony Scherman are held in numerous public and private collections, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Museum of Contemporary Art in Montréal, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, the Denver Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, and the Centre George Pompidou, Paris.