Martin Kline
Martin Kline is an American painter who builds abstract works from encaustic and pigmented wax on rigid wood panels, often creating layered relief.
Painter
Tony Scherman
Tony Scherman is a Canadian painter known for figurative and historical paintings made with encaustic, along with documented work in oil and acrylic.
Tony Scherman quick facts
Tony Scherman used layered encaustic wax for large figurative paintings, drawing on photographs, cinematic imagery, portraits, and historical subjects.
| Full name | Antony Scherman |
|---|---|
| Born | August 13, 1950 · Toronto, Canada |
| Died | February 28, 2023 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Movements | — |
| Paint types | Encaustic paint |
| Other media | — |
| Other materials | — |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas · Paper · Fabric |
| Painting methods | Mixing pigment with hot wax and applying translucent encaustic layers to canvas |
| Common subjects | Portraits, historical figures, power, memory, film imagery, and art history |
| Notable works | Abstract |
Sources: Tony Scherman biography, Art Museum at the University of Toronto: Chasing Napoleon, Art Museum at the University of Toronto: Tony Scherman: Works On Paper, Winnipeg Art Gallery, and Contemporary Art Society: Abstract.
Paint types used by Tony Scherman
Scherman’s encaustic practice spans large canvases and works on paper; records identify pigmented wax in both formats and document specific examples.
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Encaustic paint
The Art Gallery of Hamilton records Scherman’s Rape of Callisto: Birth of Arcas (1993) as encaustic on canvas. Related canvases in the same series are also cataloged in encaustic, documenting his use of pigmented wax to build layered, textured images rather than a conventional oil glaze.
Sources: Art Gallery of Hamilton: Rape of Callisto: Birth of Arcas, Art Gallery of Hamilton: Rape of Callisto: Callisto in Tuscany.; Winnipeg Art Gallery: Tony Scherman
Painting surfaces used by Tony Scherman
Scherman used canvas for large encaustic paintings and paper for smaller studies, while a documented mixed-media work also includes fabric as a material.
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Canvas
Scherman’s encaustic paintings, including Chasing Napoleon and Rape of Callisto: Birth of Arcas, are documented on canvas. He builds pigmented-wax layers on this support; the Winnipeg Art Gallery describes the medium’s dense, tactile surface, while collection records identify individual canvases.
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Paper
Scherman also made encaustic works on paper, including Gertrude Study in the Art Gallery of Hamilton collection. The sheet provides a smaller format than his large canvases, and the museum record identifies both the work’s paper support and wax-based medium.
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Fabric
Fabric appears in Abstract (about 1974), whose Contemporary Art Society record lists acrylic, fabric, and encaustic among its materials. That documented combination places textile within a specific mixed-media work rather than implying that fabric was a standard support for Scherman’s canvases.
Sources: Tony Scherman biography, Art Museum at the University of Toronto: Chasing Napoleon, Art Museum at the University of Toronto: Tony Scherman: Works On Paper, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Society: Abstract, Art Gallery of Hamilton: Gertrude Study, and Art Gallery of Hamilton: Lamb.
Painters similar to Tony Scherman
Tony Scherman’s wax-built portraits invite comparison with painters who used encaustic and layered media to build richly textured images on canvas.
Betsy Eby
Betsy Eby is an American painter and musician known for abstract encaustic works built from layered wax, gestural line, color, and musical structure.
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns is an American artist whose paintings rework familiar signs such as flags, targets, numbers, and maps through encaustic and collage.