Biography

Born in 1950 in Montreal Canada, Johanan Herson was initiated into art at an early age. At the age of eight he won a prestigious award for children’s art, and was marked as a promising talent. Besides art he studied movement and ballet.

He has worked extensively as an actor from the age of 12 appearing on stage, and performing in a leading role in a television soap opera for five consecutive seasons. He has also appeared in feature and fact films.

In 1967, he arrived in Israel to study at the ‘Bezal’el Art Academy’ in Jerusalem, and then continued studies at the ‘Fine Arts’ at Concordia University, Montreal majoring in Drama.

The sphere where theater couples with the plastic arts has always held a special wonder for Johanan Herson. To him theater is reflected in painting – in composition, movement, color and spontaneity – and painting is used in the theater – in design and sketches. And in both people play an important role – their moods and their looks; their clothes and their smells; and whether they are alone, in couples or in groups. The pluralistic and humanitarian beliefs Herson lives by become evident in his oil paintings using endless images of people.

Over the past two decades Herson has also worked extensively painting in ‘Soft Art’, a technique he mastered while working with Calman Shemi, a pioneer in this unusual art media. Subsequently, Herson began designing tufted wool and mixed media tapestries. Many of his larger pieces were commissioned by various public and private institutions, such as theaters, the ‘Tel Aviv University’ and the ‘Jerusalem Journalist Hall’.

His works are on exhibition at the ‘Leumi’ Bank, ‘First International Bank’, ‘Adanim’ Bank, in Sheri Arison’s collection, and in many American and Israeli galleries.