Ghitta Caiserman-Roth

Ghitta Caiserman-Roth (March 2, 1923 – November 25, 2005) was a Canadian painter and printmaker. She was a founder of the Montreal Artist School and her work is in the National Gallery of Canada. and the first painter to receive the Governor General's Award for Visual Media and Art.

Early life and education Ghitta Caiserman-Roth was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1923 to a Romanian-Jewish family. Her parents were Sarah Wittal, the founder of a children's wear company called Goosey Gander, and Hananiah Meir Caiserman, a civic leader in the Montreal Jewish community and a union organizer and activist. Both parents were heavily involved in socialist causes which had a significant impact on Ghitta's art.

Caiserman-Roth attended the High School of Montreal, the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, and finally from 1940 to 1943 the Parsons School of Design in New York City. During that time in New York, she also studied at the American Artists School, at the Art Students League, and with realist painter Moses Soyer. She studied with Albert Dumouchel in graphics under a Canada Council Senior Fellowship at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal in 1961 to 1962.

Career Caiserman-Roth returned to Montreal in 1947 and opened the Montreal Artists School with her first husband, Alfred Pinsky. They opened the school with artists Barbara Eckhart and Harold Goodwin. Many of the students were war veterans and Caiserman-Roth served as the principal. However, the school only ran until 1952 and was then sold. During a 1948 trip to Mexico, she encountered the socialist mural movement, after which she started to incorporate mural forms along with socialist themes into her work. Caiserman-Roth studied political murals as they explored Mexico bringing fresh ideas back to the McGill Ghetto where they lived until 1956.

Caiserman-Roth recalls that her first major sale was to A.Y. Jackson; her first major public gallery sale was of her painting entitled Backyard, which she sold to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1949. She continued successfully as a practicing artist, receiving numerous awards and memberships, and having her work featured in solo and group exhibitions. She has been represented in over 100 collections, both public and private. She also served as a critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, offered critiques to individual artists and education groups, and gave numerous lectures in Canada and the United States.

Her first formal influence was her art teacher, Alexander Bercovitch, who taught her through private lessons at her family home in Montreal in 1932. While painting under his tutelage, at the age of eleven, Caiserman-Roth received an Honourable Mention at the Art Association of Montreal Spring Exhibition.

Sources of inspiration

Based on her education and influences, Caiserman-Roth established herself as a figurative artist concerned with the human condition and worked through various media: painting, lithography (printmaking), etching, and drawing. She highly valued symbolism and the combination of conventional materials and techniques with unconventional ones.

Caiserman-Roth was part of the Young Women's Hebrew Association (YWHA), along with other female artists Rita Briansky and Sylvia Ary and it was from the annual art exhibition of the YWHA and Young Men's Hebrew Association that the Jewish Painters of Montreal group was born.

Solo exhibitions Gallery Linda Verge, Quebec City, Quebec (2001) Galerie quartier des arts, Pointe Claire, Québec (1993–1992) Restaurant Al Caretta, Montréal, Québec (1983)

Collections Caiserman-Roth's work has been featured in over 100 private and public collections, including the following: National Gallery of Canada Ontario Department of Education Ottawa City Hall Pratt & Whitney, Montreal Rare Book Department, McGill University University of British Columbia University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario

Awards and memberships Caiserman-Roth won numerous awards: Canada Council Senior Fellowship (1961) Purchase Prize and Best Graphic Image Award at the Ontario Society of Artists (1975) Living Nature 86 Prize Kathe legally changed her surname to Roth at the age of 18.