Malick Sidibé, group of gelatin silver prints in painted glass frames

Malick Sidibé, group of gelatin silver prints in painted glass frames, 1969–1986, framed 2003–2004. Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds from the Photography Curatorial Committee, 2020 © Estate of Malick Sidibé. Courtesy of the artist’s estate and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

Documents, 1960s-1970s

October 31, 2020 - December 5, 2021

Located on Level 1 (the Main Level) in gallery 128, the Edmond G. Odette Family Gallery.

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EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

In the 1960s and 1970s, documentary photography took on new power and meanings. In the aftermath of the Second World War, interactions shifted between citizens and their governments, between colonizers and the newly independent, and between other groups as new sociocultural dynamics evolved. This exhibition looks at how photographers around the world—from Bamako to Mumbai, Pretoria to Toronto—used their medium to celebrate, to witness, and to critique their worlds in new ways during a time of change.

Be it through sharply recorded detail or dynamic blurring, in the photography studio or on the street, in single images or in deliberate sequences, the artists chose a range of aesthetic approaches to bring the personal and the political into dialogue.

Documents, 1960s–1970s presents a broad and international field of documentary practice during a time of profound change. It includes work by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ernest Cole, Lutz Dille, Charles Gagnon, David Goldblatt, Bhupendra Karia, Paul Kodjo, Martha Rosler, Stephen Shore, Malick Sidibé, Ming Smith, Ian Wallace, and Garry Winogrand, as well as a selection of press photographs by Eve Arnold, Robert Cohen and others.

The exhibition is drawn from the AGO Collection and features a number of recent acquisitions, alongside select loans.

Presented in collaboration with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.


ARTWORK FROM THE EXHIBITION

Bhupendra Karia, Population Crisis

Bhupendra Karia, Population Crisis, B88.70 Bombay, 1968–1971. Gelatin silver print, 27.9 x 35.4 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, 2016. Ó Bhupendra Karia Estate, courtesy sepiaEYE,  2016/164.

Bhupendra Karia, Population Crisis
Ming Smith, Dexter Gordon, Tenor Saxophonist, Marseille, France

Ming Smith, Dexter Gordon, Tenor Saxophonist, Marseille, France, 1976. Gelatin silver print, 40.6 x 50.8 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds generously donated by Ken Straiton, 2018. © Ming Smith 2018/34.

Ming Smith, Dexter Gordon, Tenor Saxophonist, Marseille, France
David Goldblatt, At 581 Mapetla, Soweto

David Goldblatt, At 581 Mapetla, Soweto, 1972. Gelatin silver print, 25.7 x 20.3 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds from The Schulich Foundation and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, 2018. © The David Goldblatt Legacy, courtesy Goodman Gallery,  2018/3583.

David Goldblatt, At 581 Mapetla, Soweto
Paul Kodjo, Untitled

Paul Kodjo, Untitled, 1970s. Gelatin silver print, 50 x 40 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Purchase, with funds from the Photography Curatorial Committee, 2020. © Paul Kodjo, courtesy Les Rencontres du Sud 2019/2331.

Paul Kodjo, Untitled
 Ian Wallace, Pan Am Scan (detail)

 Ian Wallace, Pan Am Scan (detail), 1970. Gelatin silver print, 40 x 60.1 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Gift of Sandra Simpson, 2017. © Ian Wallace, courtesy Catriona Jeffries 2017/236.1-.5.

Ian Wallace, Pan Am Scan (detail)
Charles Gagnon, Cabines téléphonique

Charles Gagnon, Cabines téléphonique, 1965. Gelatin silver print, 27.8 x 35.3 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Gift of Michiko Yajima Gagnon, 2010. © The Estate of Charles Gagnon 2010/270.

Charles Gagnon, Cabines téléphonique
Garry Winogrand, Los Angeles, California

Garry Winogrand, Los Angeles, California, 1969. Gelatin silver print, 21.6 x 32.8 cm. Purchase, with funds generously donated by Martha LA McCain, 2015. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco 2014/1569.11.

Garry Winogrand, Los Angeles, California

 

 

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