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Alison Rossiter, Goya, unique from the series Light Horses, 2009, photogenic drawing on gelatin silver paper.

Alison Rossiter, Goya, unique from the series Light Horses, 2009, photogenic drawing on gelatin silver paper, 50.5 x 60.5 cm. Purchased 2009. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Photography

The National Gallery of Canada’s photography collection is one of the world’s most comprehensive holdings of photographs and related materials. It represents the entire history of the medium, revealing and reinterpreting the most important stories of our past, present and future.

In 2015, a generous donation from Scotiabank supported and enhanced collecting and outreach activities. The Scotiabank Photography Program at the National Gallery of Canada embraces digital content creation, education, exhibitions, and the New Generation Photography Award, which recognizes outstanding work in photographic and lens-based arts by Canadians 35 and under. 

The Gallery has been actively collecting photographs since 1967, thanks to the prescience of then-Director Jean Sutherland Boggs and Curator of Photographs James Borcoman, who recognized photography’s growing importance to art history.

Now encompassing more than 50,000 photographs and 146,000 negatives, the collection contains significant holdings by some of photography’s key practitioners, including William Henry Fox Talbot, Charles Nègre, P.H. Emerson, Hill and Adamson, Frederick H. Evans, Josef Sudek, Walker Evans, Lisette Model, Leon Levinstein, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Lynne Cohen, Arnaud Maggs and Mark Ruwedel. Also represented is a fine collection of European and American daguerreotypes, and rare 19th-century war photographs.

The Gallery’s photography collection also comprises the complete holdings of the former Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP), spanning nearly sixty years, from the early 1950s to 2009. Originating in the National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division, the CMCP collection features some of the best documentary and art photography ever produced by Canadian artists and photographers. It also includes an extensive collection of negatives and transparencies generated during government assignments documenting a critical period in the country’s history, from the 1960s to the mid-1980s.

As well, the Gallery’s photography holdings include photographs associated with photojournalism, such as the Photo League and 19th-century images of conflict from the Crimean War, the 1860 China War, the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. Recent donations of major collections of news photographs related to the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War have enhanced the collection’s representation of 20th-century conflict. This expansion of photojournalism, as well as images of a vernacular nature, encourages interdisciplinary research and scholarship into the intellectual history of the photographic image.

The National Gallery of Canada's photography collection is widely respected, as are its groundbreaking exhibitions and stellar publications, including Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science, Oscar G. Rejlander: Artist Photographer and Photography in Canada, 1960-2000.

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Curatorial Team

Ann Thomas.

Ann Thomas, Senior Curator of Photographs

Ann Thomas has organized numerous exhibitions and installations, and is the author of several catalogues and publications, including Lisette Model (1990, Wittenborn Award), No Man’s Land: Lynne Cohen Photographs (2001), Modernist Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada (2007), American Photographs 1900–1950 from the National Gallery of Canada (2011), The Great War: The Persuasive Power of Photography (2014), and The Intimate World of Josef Sudek (2016).

She has lectured, served on juries, and published extensively, both nationally and internationally. She is the editor of Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science (1997, Kraszna Kraus Award) and The Extended Moment: Fifty Years of Collecting Photographs at the National Gallery of Canada with John McElhone (2018, 2nd Prize — Alcuin Society). She curated the exhibition Don McCullin (2013), as well as numerous installations of works from the Gallery collection, which can be viewed online.


Lori Pauli.

Lori Pauli, Curator of Photographs

Lori Pauli has organized several exhibitions, including major monographs on the work of Canadian photographers, such as Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky (2003), Utopia/Dystopia: The Photographs of Geoffrey James (2008), and Domestic Symphonies: The Photographs of Margaret Watkins in 2012.

She has also organized thematic exhibitions, including Acting the Part: Photography as Theater (2006), and 19th-Century British Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada (2011). In addition, she organized the first major retrospective exhibition on the life and work of the Swedish-British photographer, Oscar Gustave Rejlander (2018), presented both at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

She has published essays on the work of photographers Paul-Émile Miot, André Kertesz, Stella Simon, Edward Weston, Diane Arbus and Gary Schneider.  Other publications include essays for catalogues produced by the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Kunsthalle in Vienna, the Street Level Gallery in Glasgow, and the Mois de la Photo in Montréal. She has also contributed articles on photography to the journals History of Photography, Studies in Photography and Ransom Notes, along with several entries for the Encyclopedias of Nineteenth Century and Twentieth Century Photography.

She was invited to be one of the authors for the Association of Art Museum Curators’ Standards and Guidelines Professional Practices for Art Museum Curators. In addition, she has been a guest lecturer at the University of Ottawa, where she taught the history of photography. She has also been invited to speak on various topics in photography in Canada and internationally.


Andrea Kunard.

Andrea Kunard, Associate Curator

Andrea Kunard curates exhibitions on Canadian photography for the National Gallery of Canada and the former Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. In addition to exhibitions associated with the above-listed publications, she has worked on solo and group shows reflecting a wide range of artists and ideas, including the National Gallery Biennales (It Is What It Is. Recent Acquisitions of New Canadian Art (2010), Builders: Canadian Biennial (2012), Shine a Light (2014), 2017 Canadian Biennial), Artists, Architects & Artisans: Canadian Art 1890–1918 (2013) and The Disappearance of Darkness: Photography at the End of the Analog Era (Princeton Architectural Press: Ryerson Image Centre, 2013).

She has also collaborated with Sophie Hackett (Art Gallery of Ontario) and Urs Stahel (La Fondazione MAST, Bologna) on Anthropocene (2018), which showcased the photographs of Ed Burtynsky and the films of Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier. Other collaborations include work with Terry Graff (Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton) on Jaret Belliveau: Dominion Street (2014), and with Susan Gibson Garvey (former director of the Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax) on Marlene Creates — Places, Paths, and Pauses (2017). Kunard has taught the history of photography, Canadian art and cultural theory at Carleton University and Queen’s University, and has lectured on photography across Canada.

In addition, she was co-editor of The Cultural Work of Photography in Canada (McGill Queen’s U.P. 2008) with Professor Carol Payne, and has written articles on contemporary and historical photography in The Journal of Canadian Art History, the International Journal of Canadian Studies, and Early Popular Visual Culture. In 2017, she launched a major web-based project in association with Library and Archives Canada: Photostories Canada, featuring photographic essays from the National Film Board of Canada, Still Photography Division collection.


Jonathan Newman.

Jonathan Newman, Curatorial Assistant

As a curatorial assistant for the Photography Collection, and previously for the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Jonathan Newman has been assisting in the development and dissemination of the National Gallery/CMCP photographs collection since the early 1990s. He was curator of the exhibitions Clocks for Seeing Photography, Time and Motion (2017), Leviathans of the Sky: Photographs of Dirigibles in the National Gallery Collection (2013), and I Can See it Now: The Instantaneous Photograph.

Photo Blog

Explore the art of photography from the medium’s earliest days to cutting-edge contemporary techniques, through fascinating stories inspired by works in the national photography collection.

Read the blog


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Yamamoto Masao, # 280 (from the series A Box of Ku), 1987–2018 (printed in 1994), gelatin silver print with hand-applied ink, 11.1 x 17.3 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa © Yamamoto Masao, courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery. Photo: NGC

Yamamoto Masao, # 280 (from the series A Box of Ku), 1987–2018 (printed in 1994), gelatin silver print with hand-applied ink.

latt D. Babbitt, Niagara Falls from Prospect Point, Daguerreotype.

Viewing Room

Take a closer look at a selection of historical photography from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Use the zoom feature to explore details not easily seen by the naked eye, and activate hotspots to learn more.

Start exploring

 

Exhibitions and publications

1969-1989

  • The Photograph as Object, 1843–1969: Photographs from the Collection of the National Gallery of Canada by James Borcoman (pamphlet, 1969). View the digital flipbook.

  • Charles Nègre by James Borcoman (catalogue, 1976)

  • Fact and Fiction: Canadian Painting and Photography 1860–1900 by Ann Thomas (McCord Museum, 1979)

  • Eikoh Hosoe: Killed by Roses by Ann Thomas (NGC Journal, 1983)

  • Eugène Atget, 1857–1927 by James Borcoman (catalogue, 1984)

  • Contemporary Canadian Photography from the Collection of the National Film Board by Martha Langford (catalogue, 1984)

  • Intimate Images: 129 daguerreotypes 1841–1857: The Phyllis Lambert Gift by James Borcoman (catalogue, 1988)

1990-1999

  • Lisette Model by Ann Thomas (catalogue, 1990)

  • Beau: A Reflection on the Nature of Beauty in Photography by Martha Langford (catalogue, 1992)

  • Women Photographed – Photographs by and of Women from the National Gallery of Canada by Lori Pauli (no publication, 1992)

  • Magicians of Light: Photographs from the Collection of the National Gallery of Canada by James Borcoman (catalogue, 1993)

  • Vintage Weston by Lori Pauli (pamphlet, 1996)

  • Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science by Ann Thomas, ed. (catalogue, 1997)

  • A Passion for Life: The Photographs of André Kertesz by Lori Pauli (pamphlet, 1998)

  • A Canadian Document by Martha Hanna, Pierre Dessureault, and Carol Payne (catalogue, 1999)

  • Reflections on the Artist — Self Portraits by Artists by Lori Pauli (no publication, 1999)

2000-2009

  • Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups: The Photographs of Diane Arbus by Lori Pauli (pamphlet, 2000)

  • Shifting Sites by Andrea Kunard (pamphlet, 2000)

  • No Man's Land: The Photography of Lynne Cohen by Ann Thomas (catalogue, 2001)

  • Pierre Boogaerts: Reality, Vision, Image by Pierre Dessureault (catalogue, 2001)

  • Confluence: Contemporary Canadian Photography by Martha Hanna (catalogue, 2003)

  • Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky by Lori Pauli (catalogue, 2003)

  • Susan McEachern: Structures of Meaning by Andrea Kunard (catalogue, 2004)

  • Michael Semak by Andrea Kunard (catalogue, 2005)

  • Acting the Part: Photography as Theatre by Lori Pauli (catalogue, 2006)

  • Modernist Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada by Ann Thomas (catalogue, 2007)

  • Utopia/Dystopia: Geoffrey James by Lori Pauli (catalogue, 2008)

  • Steeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal Artists by Andrea Kunard, in collaboration with Steve Loft (pamphlet, 2008)

  • Scott McFarland: A Cultivated View by Andrea Kunard (catalogue, 2009)

2010-2019

  • 19th-Century French Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada by James Borcoman (catalogue, 2010)

  • Without a Camera: Photograms from the National Gallery of Canada by Lori Pauli (no publication, 2010)  

  • Angela Grauerholz: The Inexhaustible Image by Martha Hanna (catalogue, 2010)

  • 19th-century British Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada by Lori Pauli, with an essay by John McElhone (catalogue, 2011)

  • American Photographs 1900–1950 from the National Gallery of Canada by Ann Thomas (catalogue, 2011)

  • Fred Herzog: Street Photography by Andrea Kunard (pamphlet, 2011)

  • Global Nature by Andrea Kunard (pamphlet, 2011)

  • The Study of Hands by Lori Pauli (no publication, 2011)

  • Margaret Watkins: Domestic Symphonies by Lori Pauli (catalogue, 2012)

  • Clash: Conflict and Its Consequences by Andrea Kunard (pamphlet, 2012)

  • Don McCullin (Ann Thomas, accompanying catalogue; author Katherine Stauble, 2013)

  • Paul-Emile Miot — Photographs from the Library and Archives of Canada by Lori Pauli (no publication, 2013)

  • Michel Campeau: Icons of Obsolescence by Andrea Kunard (pamphlet, 2013)

  • The Great War: The Persuasive Power of Photography by Ann Thomas (catalogue, 2014)

  • The Intimate World of Josef Sudek by Ann Thomas, Vladmir Birgus and Ian Jeffrey (catalogue, 2016)

  • Photography in Canada, 1960-2000 by Andrea Kunard (catalogue, 2017)

  • Oscar G. Rejlander: Artist Photographer by Lori Pauli (catalogue, 2018)

  • The Extended Moment: Fifty Years of Collecting Photographs at the National Gallery of Canada by Ann Thomas and John McElhone (catalogue, 2018

2020-

  • I Confess by Moyra Davey, Andrea Kunard and Dalie Giroux (catalogue, 2020)

Featured Content

Paul Strand, Fox River, Gaspé, 1936, printed later. Gelatin silver print.
Your Collection

Paul Strand and Canada: Travels to the Gaspé Peninsula

Photographer Paul Strand visited Canada at least five times, travelling twice to the Gaspé Peninsula and creating images that record his change of style.
December 17, 2020
Your Collection

Stephen Waddell and Visualizing the World

Saturated with references to photography and art history, Stephen Waddell’s images are documents of fleeting moments in mid-narrative.
October 29, 2020
Your Collection

A Pastor's Pastures: the Hatfield Rectory Album

The Hatfield Rectory album of photographs is an intimate record of the family of Reverend Faithfull and their life at the parsonage at Hatfield in England.
January 17, 2020
Exhibitions

Japan in Transition: 20th-Century Photography from Kimura to Morimura

Through the lens of 28 photographers, the images in the current "Hanran" exhibition reflect the profound changes that occurred in Japan during the Shōwa era.
October 9, 2019
Your Collection

Metaphors and imagination: Sophie Ristelhueber's "WB" series

Sophie Ristelhueber is known for her depiction of landscape in the aftermath of conflict. Her work "WB" speaks effectively to the role of art in contemporary geopolitics.
September 5, 2019

Find out more

Focus on the Collection: Yamamoto Masao / November 13, 2019
Life in Norfolk: Photographs by Peter Henry Emerson / August 23, 2019
A Speculative Process: Reading Jayce Salloum’s Mute Pictures / August 14, 2019
Focus on the Collection: Sammy Baloji / July 24, 2019
From Monochrome to Colour: Dave Heath's Photographs and Slide Tape Presentations / June 26, 2019
Solitude and Connection: Dave Heath's Universal Expression / March 13, 2019
People of New York: the photography of Leon Levinstein / January 25, 2019
History and Identity: Althea Thauberger's "L’arbre est dans ses feuilles" / October 19, 2018
Oscar Rejlander and the beginning of art photography / October 17, 2018
Human-altered Landscapes: Visions of the Anthropocene / September 26, 2018
Dark Side of the Moon: Forensic Analysis of Lewis M. Rutherfurd's "Moon" / August 21, 2018
Universal experiences and the aesthetic eye: images by Donald Buchanan / July 3, 2018
Candid but kind: the photographic world of Lisette Model / June 15, 2018
Work by one of the most important photographers of the 20th century is gifted to Canadian Photography Institute / January 24, 2018
Don’t Take My Kodachrome Away — A Review of Fred Herzog: Modern Color / October 17, 2017
Lady Aberdeen's Memorial Photobook to her Son: An Elegy in Visual Form / February 6, 2019
Unwinding Time: Clocks for Seeing at the Art Gallery of Alberta / March 1, 2017
Photo-reportage no 407A Une fierté nationale : Le Canada a atteint en 1965 la première place pour son standard de vie

Photostories Canada

The virtual exhibition which tells us fascinating stories about Canada

VISIT THE EXHIBITION

 

Supported by the Scotiabank Photography Program
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