Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Prints and Drawings department was established in 1975 to collect and curate exhibitions of works on paper. Katharine A. Lochnan (nee Jordan) was the first curator of the Prints and Drawings department, having worked at the gallery as a curatorial assistant since 1969.
From 1912 to the 1960s, curatorial work at the AGO was not divided by area or department. The Curator (later Chief Curator) and Assistant Curators worked on exhibitions in all media, including prints and drawings.
The Prints and Drawings collection now includes more than 20,000 prints, drawings, and watercolours, housing works on paper from the 1400s to the present day. These works intersect with many of the AGO’s collecting areas, including European, Canadian, Inuit, Modern, Contemporary, and Photography, and are available for public reference in the Marvin Gelber Print and Drawings Study Centre.
The Prints and Drawings department regularly curates exhibitions at the AGO under the leadership of Alexa Greist, who has been the Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings since 2016.