Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1963-2016 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1,960 photographs [1,252 slides, 577 prints, 129 negatives, 2 transparencies]
14.7 m of textual records
566 posters
65 audio cassettes
46 objects
45 DVDs
8 drawings
17 CD-ROMs
3 prints
3 USB sticks
3 floppy discs
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Peggy Gale (b.1944) is an independent curator, critic, and writer based in Toronto who specializes in contemporary time-based and media art. Gale studied at the Università degli Studi (Florence, Italy, 1965-66) and graduated from the University of Toronto with an honours BA in 1967. She then worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1967 to 1974, first in the Audio Visual Library and then as an Education Officer, where she was responsible for originating and coordinating all lectures, concerts, films, and performance events. She served as the Assistant Film and Video Officer at the Canada Council (1974-75), returning to Toronto to act as the Video/Film director at Art Metropole from 1975 to 79. From 1980 to 1982, Gale served as the executive director of A Space. She returned to Art Metropole as Special Projects Coordinator from 1985 to 1987, and again in 2001-02 as Acting Director. As an art writer, Gale was a regular contributor to Parachute magazine (Montreal) and has been writing for Canadian Art since 1986. She has edited three books in the “By Artists” series published by Art Metropole, in addition to Video re/View: The (best) Source for Critical Writings on Canadian Artists' Video in collaboration with Lisa Steele (1996). Gale’s work as an independent curator includes Videoscape (1974), a monumental exhibition of video art at the AGO and the first of its kind in Canada. Other notable curatorial projects include: InVideo (Dalhousie Art Gallery 1977, Art Gallery of Ontario 1978, Winnipeg Art Gallery 1978), OKanada (curator of performance art, Berlin 1983), Electronic Landscapes (National Gallery of Canada 1989), Northern Lights (The Canadian Embassy in Tokyo 1991) co-curated with Akihiko Morishita, Ecstatic Memory (Art Gallery of Ontario 1996-97), and the Biennale de Montréal (2014), co-curated with Gregory Burke. Gale is married to the artist Michael Snow.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
AGO Credit Line: Gift of Peggy Gale, 2017
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds consists of documentation of Peggy Gale’s career as an independent writer and curator in Canada with projects in the US, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Accumulated content includes records of curated exhibitions, publications, photographs and slides, ephemera, essays, biographical information on artists, Gale’s research notes from various projects, written correspondence with artists and artist run centres, and audio recordings of lectures and interviews.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Further accruals are expected
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open. Access to Special Collections is by appointment only. Please contact the reference desk for more information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Also includes material in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, Turkish, and Inuktitut.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Typed letters may be slightly adhered to each other from ink. In most files, thermal faxes are faded and illegible. Please handle documents with care and consult archivist if needed.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Acronyms: AGNS (Art Gallery of Nova Scotia), NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design), CHR (Center for Historical Reenactments), WLU (Wilfrid Laurier University), GGVMA, AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario), ECAV (École cantonale d’art du Valais), TPW (Toronto Photographers Workshop Gallery), AM (Art Metropole), AICA (International Association of Art Critics), BNL MTL (Montreal Biennale), CIAC (Center Internationale d’art Contemporain), MoCCA (Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art), NGC (National Gallery of Canada), TIAF (Toronto International Art Fair), UBC (University of British Columbia), ARC (Artculture Resource Center, Toronto), OAAG (Ontario Association of Art Galleries), UAAC (Universities Art Association of Canada), UTAC (University of Toronto Art Centre), MAC (Museum d’art Contemporain), ATSA (Quand L’art Passe à L’action), MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), UQAM (L’Université du Québec à Montréal), CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture).
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Finding aid prepared by Beck Gilmer-Osborne, 2017; fonds description uploaded May 23, 2018. File-level descriptions uploaded and published by Camille McDayter, October, 2025.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Fonds-level description re-created on 13 January 2025 due to error in slug.