Yehouda Chaki
Yehouda Leon Chaki is a Greek-born Canadian artist based in Montreal, Quebec. Best known for his colourful palette and expressionistic landscapes, he began exhibiting in 1959 and today his work can be found in over 50 public and corporate collections and museums around the world such as Concordia University, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts., Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Jerusalem City Hall, and the Museo de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro.
Biography
Yehouda Chaki was born in Athens, Greece on December 11, 1938. He is the son of Sephardic Jewish parents and his early childhood was marked by the Holocaust. Chaki and his parents spent five years secretly living in the home of a Christian family in Athens before they could safely relocate to Israel with his younger brother.This event inspired many of his works including his 1968 painting which was hung at Concordia University titled "Express Train from Salonika to Auschwitz" depicting the transport of Jews to the concentration camps during the Holocaust and the 1999 Mi Makir installation described in the book "Mi Makir: A Search for the Missing". This exhibit featured a wall filled with dark unframed portraits of Holocaust victims each bearing a number in the top left corner, and a large pile of books on the floor.
Chaki lived in Holon, near Tel Aviv, from 1945 to 1960. Throughout his adolescence, he studied painting, drawing and printmaking under Joseph Schwartzman and in his teens entered the Avni Institute of Art to study with Avigdor Stematsky, Moshe Mokady and Yehezchel Streichman. Following compulsory army service, he moved to Paris to complete his education at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts while working for artist Yaacov Agam.
In Paris, Chaki met Montrealer Grace Aronoff who was a student at the Sorbonne. The couple married in Montreal, Canada in 1963. They have two children, Lisa, married to Alan Post and :fr:Adam Chaki|Adam Chaki, married to Lisa Noto.
Career
Chaki exhibits regularly while continuing to work out of his studio in Montreal. In 1967, Chaki became head of Painting and Drawing in the Department of Fine Arts at the Saidye Bronfman Centre of Montreal until 1989.Yehouda Chaki is currently represented by six major galleries including in Montreal, in Toronto, in Vancouver, in Ottawa, in Calgary, and in Palm Desert. Chaki has also worked on commissions by various patrons of the arts. In 1987 the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim commissioned Chaki to design a large tapestry in honour of the synagogue's 145th anniversary, in 1988 he painted "The Four Seasons" that is hanging at Place Ville-Marie for the Royal Bank of Canada, in 2000 Chaki designed the stained glass windows for the , and in 2001 Salvatore Guerrera commissioned another work in stained glass for Concordia University. Chaki is also known for having created the bronze statue presented to the winners of Canada's premier fiction award, the Giller Prize, from 1994 to 2004.
Over the years his work has been reviewed in art journals such as ARTnews and Vie des Arts and supported by eminent art critics such as John Russell Harper in "Chaki: Recent Paintings" published by Galerie Dresdnere in 1982. Chaki is also the subject of the book "Chaki: A Language of Passion," published by Buschlen Mowatt Fine Arts in 1994 with essays by Barrie Mowatt, Leo Rosshandler and Herbert Aronoff. In 2017, Yehouda Chaki was featured on Federation CJA's celebrating the Jews who played a major role in Quebec history, culture, and society.
Collections
Abitibi-PriceAdath Israel Congregation, Montreal
Aird & Berlis, Toronto
Aldo Group, Montréal
Avmor, Montreal
Astral Media, Montreal
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick
Beit Yad leBanim Museum, Holon
Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba
Bentall 5, Vancouver
Beth Tikvah, Montreal
Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
Calgary Petroleum Club, Calgary
Campbell, Godfrey & Lewtas, Toronto
Canadian Consulate, New York
Canadian Embassy, Argentina
CIL Collection, Montreal
Claridge, Montreal
Coca-Cola Limited, Montreal
Concordia University, Montreal
Concordia University – JMSB Tunnel Project
Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem, Montreal
Cormark Securities Inc.
Desjardins Ducharme, Montreal
Digital Equipment, Toronto
Eretz Israel Museum, Israel
Fogler, Rubinoff, Toronto
Fort Lauderdale Museum, Florida
Gaz Métropolitain, Montréal
General Electric, Toronto
Heather James Fine Art, Jackson WY
Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto
Hotel Intercontinental, Toronto
Husky Oil, Calgary
Hydro Québec, Montreal
Imperial Oil Limited, Toronto
Jerusalem City Hall, Israel
Jewish General Hospital, Montreal
La Corporation du Groupe La Laurentienne, Montréal
Lavalin Inc, Montreal
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal
Loewen, Ondaatje. McCutcheon, Toronto
Loto-Québec Collection, Montreal
Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Palm Desert CA
Montefiore Club, Montreal
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Mouvement Desjardins, Québec
Murray Axmith, Toronto
Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal
Musée d'Art Juif, Paris
Musée de Toulon, France
Musée de foyer d'Israël, Belgium
Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent
Museo de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro
National Assembly, Québec City
Olympia and York
Petrocan, Calgary
Philadelphia Museum
Plutonic Power Corporation
Reitman Collection, Montreal
Rose Museum, Boston
Royal Bank of Canada, Montreal
Royal Bank of Canada, Place Ville-Marie, Montreal
Security Pacific Bank, Toronto
Senvest Capital Inc., Montreal
Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue, Montreal
Shell Resources, Calgary
SOQUIP, Montreal
SOQUIP, Quebec
The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Ontario
Tory, Tory & Bennington, Toronto
Université de Montréal, Montreal
University of New Brunswick Museum, Fredericton, New Brunswick
West-Sun Capital Collection, Montreal
Exhibitions
Chaki has had over 100 solo exhibitions since 1962.| 2016 | – Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec |
| – Galerie St. Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario | |
| 2015 | – Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto |
| – Gallery Jones, Vancouver, British Columbia | |
| 2014 | – Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec |
| – Galerie St. Laurent + Hill, Ottawa, Ontario | |
| 2012 | – Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho |
| – Gallery Jones, Vancouver, British Columbia | |
| – Newzones Gallery, Calgary, Alberta | |
| – Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal, Quebec | |
| 2011 | |
| 2010 | |
| 2009 | |
| 2008 | |
| 2007 | |
| 2006 | |
| 2005 | |
| 2004 | |
| 2002 | |
| 2001 | |
| 2000 | |
| 1999 | |
| 1998 | |
| 1997 | |
| 1996 | |
| 1995 | |
| 1994 | |
| 1993 | |
| 1992 | |
| 1991 | |
| 1990 | |
| 1989 | |
| 1988 | |
| 1987 | |
| 1986 | |
| 1985 | |
| 1984 | |
| 1983 | |
| 1982 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1979 | |
| 1977 | |
| 1976 | |
| 1975 | |
| 1974 | |
| 1973 | |
| 1972 | |
| 1971 | |
| 1969 | |
| 1968 | |
| 1967 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1964 | |
| 1963 | |
| 1962 | |
Group exhibitions
Chaki has participated in over 450 group exhibitions in galleries across North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.| 2014 | |
| 2003 | |
| 2002 | |
| 2000 | |
| 1999 | |
| 1996 | |
| 1994 | |
| 1992 | |
| 1991 | |
| 1989 | |
| 1988 | |
| 1987 | |
| 1986 | |
| 1985 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1980 | |
| 1979 | |
| 1977 | |
| 1977 | |
| 1976 | |
| 1974 | |
| 1974 | |
| 1972 | |
| 1971 | |
| 1971 | |
| 1968 | |
| 1967 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1965 | |
| 1963 | |
| 1962 | |
| 1961 | |
| 1959 | |