Showing 173 results

The Pollock Gallery (active 1960–1981), was a commercial art gallery in Toronto established by art dealer, author, art educator and painter Jack Pollock. First located at 205 Elizabeth St in downtown Toronto in 1960, the gallery initially represented Canadian artists, most notably Norval Morrisseau. In 1966, the gallery showed works by the Hungarian-Canadian painter Julius Marosan. Later, works by British and American and other artists were exhibited, including those by David Hockney, Willem de Kooning, Anni Albers and Dieter Roth.
Within a year, the gallery relocated to 201 Elizabeth St (1961–1963), then 599 Markham St (1963–1971, with another site at 604A King St West 1966–1968), 356 Dundas St West (1972–1975, with another site at the Toronto Dominion Centre 1972–1973), and lastly 122 Scollard St in the Yorkville area of Toronto (1975–1982, with another site, 209 Adelaide St East 1980–1983). During its years of activity, the gallery employed Brian A. Marshall Schieder, Philip Ottenbrite (assistant director), Eva Quan, Frank Costin, Laurie Payne (graphic director), Helen Boyd, Renya Onasick (advertising and publicity), Lawrence Hurst (gallery administrator), Stephen Long (librarian) and others. Within months after Jack Pollock became chronically ill, the main gallery officially closed in December, 1981; the Pollock Gallery went into bankruptcy in 1983.

Walter Moos was born in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1926. He was educated at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Geneva (graduated 1946) and at the New School for Social Research, New York, from 1948 to 1951. Moos moved to Toronto from New York in 1959, having become acquainted with the city through visits with his brother, an engineer, who lived there. He married Martha Wegmuller in 1962, and had two sons, Michel André and David Alfred. The Moos family has a well-established history as gallery owners. Walter Moos was a founding member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada, and served as its president from 1971 to 1978. He was the chairman of its appraisal committee from 1972 to 1989. He served on the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council from 1972 to 1982 and was the founder and past trustee of the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation. Moos died in Toronto in 2013.

Tess Boudreau Taconis (1919-2007) was a photographer known for her portraits of Canadian artists in the 1960s. Born Mary Theresa Boudreau in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, she grew up in southwestern Ontario. A skilled darkroom technician, she was working in Paris when in 1950 she met and married Kryn Taconis, a photojournalist born in the Netherlands. The couple moved to Amsterdam and then to Canada in 1959, settling in Toronto. Tess Taconis photographed contemporary artists, particularly those associated with the Isaacs Gallery, such as Joyce Wieland, Michael Snow, William Ronald and Graham Coughtry. Tess Boudreau Taconis died in Guelph, Ontario in 2007. Her work is in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario, among other institutions.

Factory 77, initially known as Galerie Scollard, was a Toronto artist-run gallery focused on art education which operated between 1976 and 1982. Galerie Scollard was established in Toronto in 1976 as a nonprofit charitable organization by Dushka Arezina, a Yugoslavian emigrée, artist, and art historian. It was coined a “centre for education in vision” and was located on Scollard Street in Toronto. The gallery was operated by a Board of Directors of which Harvey Cowan was the chairperson and Kenneth Lund the president. Dushka Arezina sat on the Board of Directors as treasurer and was also the gallery’s executive director. Galerie Scollard ceased operations under that name in 1978 and was re-established
as Factory 77 in November 1978 upon moving into a former carpet factory at 77 Mowat Ave. in Toronto’s Parkdale area. Factory 77’s operations were overseen by Arezina and a Board of Directors chaired by Lund, a Toronto lawyer. It aimed to present a broad view of contemporary visual arts by exhibiting established artists together with emerging ones. In the years between 1978 and 1982, the gallery mounted more than 13 exhibitions per year, featuring prominent Canadian artists such as Mary and Christopher Pratt, Lynn Donoghue, and Ken Danby. The gallery also placed significant emphasis on exhibitions by Eastern European artists such as Jiri Ladocha. The gallery aimed to foster student participation through exhibits of student and youth work, and placed significant focus on art education and appreciation outreach programs in elementary and secondary schools in the Toronto area. Due to financial and administrative difficulties, Factory 77 ceased operations permanently in February 1982.

Formed by Lady Kemp in 1945 at the request of the Art Gallery of Toronto’s (now the Art Gallery of Ontario) President of the Council, the Women’s Committee functioned to foster interest in the Art Gallery of Toronto, promote membership, and host fundraising activities. These high-level functions distinguished the volunteers on the Women’s Committee from the volunteer docents and other volunteer roles within the Gallery. The Committee reported directly to the AGT’s governing council and included some of Toronto’s most prominent women. Over the years, the Committee managed many projects and consisted of the following sub-committees: Education, Art Rental, Membership, Gallery Shop, Grange Restoration, Purchasing, Men’s Luncheon, Exhibitions, House, Communications, and Nominations.

In 1950, the Women’s Committee formed the Junior Women’s Committee to provide mentorship opportunities for younger women. The Junior Women’s Committee provided help to the Women’s Committee with various annual events such as the Men’s Luncheon.

In 1974, the Women’s Committee was renamed the Volunteer Committee and the Junior Women’s Committee renamed the Junior Volunteer Committee in an attempt to be more inclusive and reach out to more members. No other significant changes were made to either Committee otherwise.

The Board of Trustees disbanded both Committees in 1998, and their functions were taken over by departments of paid staff within the Gallery. Another volunteer committee oversaw the work of docents.

Gordon Conn (ca.1888-1977) was an art collector and supporter of visual art in Toronto. He studied to be a musician and worked as a painter in his youth. Although he did not pursue a career as an artist, he maintained connections with many artists. He was a friend of the painter Kenneth Forbes (1892-1980) who painted Conn’s portrait in 1935. Together with Forbes, Gordon Conn founded the Ontario Institute of Painters devoted to the display of painting based on what Forbes called “traditional” art values. Conn turned over his studio in Wychwood Park in Toronto—The Little Gallery—to a series of one-man shows of its members. Near the end of his life, he donated paintings by artists represented in this collection to public art galleries in Ontario.

Helen Sanderson Sewell (1905-2001) was a Toronto artist and teacher. She attended the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1928 with the Governor General’s Gold Medal. After graduation, she taught for six years with Arthur Lismer at the Art Gallery of Ontario and in Barrie, London, and her Toronto studio. She traveled to northern Ontario to paint with members of the Group of Seven. In 1934 she married William Sewell and interrupted her career to raise four children, including former Toronto mayor John Sewell. She resumed painting when her children were in high school, specializing in portraiture, and was active in the Toronto Heliconian Club.

Anna Belle Wing Kindlund (later Mrs. Alois Trnka), 1876-1922, was an artist born in Buffalo, New York. She studied with W. Hitchcock in Buffalo, and G. Bridgman in New York. She was a member of the Buffalo Society of Artists and the New York Society of Craftsmen, and is listed in Who Was Who in American Art as a painter and miniaturist.

John(Jack) Martin (1904-1965) was a British-born Canadian artist, designer and educator.

Nellie Olive Curnoe (née Porter, 1909-1999) was the mother of Canadian artist Greg Curnoe (1936-1992). She married Gordon Charles Curnoe (1909-1985) in 193- and had three children: Greg, Glen (b. 1939) and Lynda (b. 1943). For biographical information on Greg Curnoe, see the finding aid to the Greg Curnoe fonds at this library, or Judith Rodger’s chronology in the 2001 Art Gallery of Ontario catalogue Greg Curnoe: Life & Stuff.