AGO Art Talks and Tours

Paterson Ewen (1925-2002) is one of Canada's most acclaimed painters. Throughout his career Ewen's search has been to make the observed world tangible and real. His work stands as a testimony to the cycles of nature, its terror and its beauty. Matthew Teitelbaum, AGO Director and CEO, as well and curator of the exhibition Paterson Ewen: Inspiration and Influence will place Ewen in the context of his times and highlight his influences and enthusiasms. He will also reveal the full breadth of the AGO's holdings.

Amin Jaffer speaks about western luxury goods made for Indian princes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The talk explores the superb and extraordinary commissions made for maharajas by western luxury houses Cartier, Chaumet and Boucheron. Jaffer contextualizes this appetite for luxury goods within the broader historical context of shifting taste and power between India and the West.

Widely recognized as one of the most important ceramic artists working today, Betty Woodman speaks about her life and art on the eve of the opening of an exhibition of her work at the Gardiner Museum. Woodman is a master of colour and form whose painterly sculptures and installations bring images of Matisse, Picasso and Miro to mind.

David Blackwood's prints are a metaphor for the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Set before our time, his images depict Newfoundland as a place of struggle, danger and tragedy. They tell stories of a barren land, a hostile climate and a threatening sea. Drawing on childhood memories, dreams, legends and oral histories, Blackwood captures the hardships of the cod fishery and the seal hunt in the land of his ancestors. Life is fragile, and death by drowning or exposure ever-present. Yet the earnest, hard-working, God-fearing people of Bonavista Bay persevere in a menacing world.

The height of the Raj coincided with the advent of photography. Both the colonial administration and the princely courts took advantage of this new technology to fashion and distribute an image of themselves to a increasingly interconnected world. This talk focused on the work of one remarkable photographer, Deen Dayal, who worked for many of the most powerful of Princely rulers at the end of the nineteenth century--including the Maharajas of Dhar and Gwalior and the Nizam of Hyderabad. His work became not only a chronicle of courtly life but was central to producing an identity for the princely state itself.

inDANCE artistic director Hari Krishnan presents South Indian courtly dance traditions based on decades of research in remote villages of South India. Weaving live performance by musicians and dancers to images, this talk will integrate movement, voice and text, showcasing courtly motifs.

David Blackwood's prints are a metaphor for the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Set before our time, his images depict Newfoundland as a place of struggle, danger and tragedy. They tell stories of a barren land, a hostile climate and a threatening sea. Drawing on childhood memories, dreams, legends and oral histories, Blackwood captures the hardships of the cod fishery and the seal hunt in the land of his ancestors. Life is fragile, and death by drowning or exposure ever-present. Yet the earnest, hard-working, God-fearing people of Bonavista Bay persevere in a menacing world.

David Blackwood's prints are a metaphor for the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Set before our time, his images depict Newfoundland as a place of struggle, danger and tragedy. They tell stories of a barren land, a hostile climate and a threatening sea. Drawing on childhood memories, dreams, legends and oral histories, Blackwood captures the hardships of the cod fishery and the seal hunt in the land of his ancestors. Life is fragile, and death by drowning or exposure ever-present. Yet the earnest, hard-working, God-fearing people of Bonavista Bay persevere in a menacing world.

Annie Cohen-Solal was born in Algeria. She is currently Professeur des Universités at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)-Paris and Research Fellow at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Her encounter with Leo Castelli prompted her to shift her interest to the art world. After winning the Prix Bernier of the Académie des Beaux-Arts for Painting American (Alfred A. Knopf) in 2001, she was awarded the ArtCurial Prize for the best contemporary art book for Leo Castelli &les siens; (Gallimard, Paris). The American version Leo &His Circle was published by Alfred A. Knopf in May 2010.

Betty Goodwin (1923-2008) explored collage, sculpture, printmaking, painting, assemblage and etching, but continually returned to drawing, and gained widespread recognition with her celebrated Swimmers series.

Dr. Stephen Inglis, adjunct curator of the Maharaja exhibition and curator emeritus at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, discusses the ways in which Indian popular culture and tourism have drawn on the culture of the kingdoms.

Reveals how you can own art by the same artists whose works grace the walls of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Starting with the Contemporary Collection, AR+SG illustrates how the Canadian art icons are not unattainable.

Richard Tuttle in conversation with Michelle Jacques, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art, and Georgiana Uhlyarik, Assistant Curator, Canadian Art.

Moderated by Dr. Kenneth Montague, Independent Curator and Collector. Featuring artists Josh Brand, Moyra Davey, Leslie Hewitt and Kristan Horton.

Moderator: David Liss. Curators: Fern Bayer (2006); Camilla Singh, Michelle Jacques (2007); Haema Sivanesan, Dave Dyment (2008); Jim Drobnick and Jennifer Fisher, Thom Sokoloski, (2009).

Julian Schnabel in conversation with AGO curator of modern and contemporary art David Moos.

A friend to Eva Hesse, Lucy Lippard wrote a monograph on the artist in 1976 that remains an essential text. Lippard is the author of more than twenty books on contemporary art and culture.

Playing with Pictures exhibition curator Liz Siegel explores the whimsical and sometimes surreal world of Victorian photocollage. By cutting up photographic portraits and pasting them into elaborate watercolor scenes they painted, aristocratic British women made work that is at once perfectly Victorian and ahead of its time, challenging both photographic convention and societal tradition.

Jennifer Bhogal, AR+SG Coordinator, speaks with the DK Photo Group about their adventures jumping fences across Europe and North America, photographing abandoned, decaying buildings, including old coal mines, once extravagant mansions, and abandoned factories.

Robert Enright is the Senior Contributing Editor to Border Crossings magazine and the University research Professor in Art Theory and Criticism at the University of Guelph. Allyson Mitchell is a feminist artist based in Toronto. She is also an Assistant Professor in the School of Women's Studies at York University. Dionne Brand is the Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto. She is also Professor of English in the School of English and Theatre Studies at The University of Guelph.