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“Photography Collected Us”:  The Malcolmson Collection

Woman's head over 8 sided lithograph shape

Works by:

Henry Fox Talbot, Eugene Atget, Robert Frank, Ian Wallace, Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, André Kertész, Man Ray, Aleksandr Rodchenko, John Vanderpant

“Photography Collected Us”: The Malcolmson Collection

January 24–March 10, 2012

Curated by Heather Diack

University of Toronto Art Centre

Organized by UTAC and curated by Heather Diack, this exhibition reflects on the compelling power of photography to create relationships. The title plays off the collectors’ own confession that “we did not collect photography, photography collected us.” This exhibition explores the enigmatic humanity that is contained in each photographic moment collected by the Malcolmsons and how the very notion of a collection is held in tension by the disjuncture between being alone and being together simultaneously.

This comprehensive exhibition comprises some 200 works that traverse an entire history of photographic practices, and is widely acknowledged as the strongest and most inclusive private collection of historic and vintage photography in Canada. The Collection contains distinguished moments in the development of the medium as well as in the continuum of significant artistic movements over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, and each image is characterized by the collective and “collected” sensibility of Harry and Ann Malcolmson. Embracing both pictures and documents, this exhibition ranges from Henry Fox Talbot to Eugene Atget, from Robert Frank to Ian Wallace and beyond, including particular emphasis on a handful of select modern photographers such as Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, André Kertész, Man Ray, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and John Vanderpant.

Opening Reception

Tuesday January 24, 2012
University of Toronto Art Centre

Art with Insight Panel

Curating and Collecting Photography
Friday March 2, 2012, 5-7pm
Featuring Heather Diack, Thierry Gervais, Louis Kaplan, Maia Sutnik.
Moderated by Matthew Brower
University College, Room 140
Reception to follow

Art with Insight Lecture

Photographies and Histories
Wednesday February 1, 2012, 4:30-6:30pm
Matthew Brower
University of Toronto Art Centre
Reception to follow

Publication

Our Supporters

We gratefully acknowledge the exhibition sponsorship support of Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group, along with a select group of private foundations and individuals. The Art with Insight Program is generously supported by Peter Allen.

Title Image: Paul Strand, Wall Street, 1915. Photogravure. 13×16 cm.

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