Canadian artist Yehouda Leon Chaki was born in Athens, in 1938 to Sephardic Jewish parents. His early childhood was marked by the Holocaust, and he spent five years secretly living in the home of a Christian family until he and his younger brother were able to safely relocate to Tel-Aviv, Israel. Throughout his adolescence, Chaki studied painting, drawing and printmaking under Joseph Schwartzman and eventually entered the Avni Institute of Art. Following his compulsory army service, Chaki moved to Paris to complete his education at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts. In 1960, he immigrated to Montreal, Canada. Chaki began exhibiting in group exhibitions in 1959 and solo exhibitions in 1962. From 1967 until 1989, he was head of Painting and Drawing in the Department of Fine Arts at the Saidye Bronfman Centre. His works can be found throughout North America and Europe. The artist continues to exhibit regularly while working out of his studio in Montreal.
The essence of Chaki’s work has been described as a collision of the outside world and the artist’s inner visceral perceptions. The events of his childhood inspired many of his works, including his 1968 painting titled “Express Train from Salonika to Auschwitz”, which was hung at Concordia University. He is also known for his landscapes and still-life’s, which consists of the accumulation of commonly known elements in nature to provide a newly ordered perception of the world. Chaki’s artistic technique is distinguished and one of a kind; shape is defined by forceful lines or clashes of colour, distance is conveyed by subtle shadings and contrasting overlaps and light and mood are presented through masterful brushwork.
