Ann Thomas (curator)
Ann Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 4, 1943 South Africa |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Education | M.F.A. Concordia University, Montreal (graduated 1976) |
| Known for | Curator of Photographs at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
| Spouse | |
Ann Thomas (born August 4, 1943) was the curator of photography and interim chief curator at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, from which she retired after more than 40 years in 2021. She now works as an independent curator. At the National Gallery, she curated, authored or co authored numerous major shows of photography. In 2018, Thomas said:
My great passion has been for the collecting, for exhibitions and for educating people about photography and its role in the arts from the 19th century on,[1]
Career[edit]
Thomas was born in South Africa. As a teenager, she was deeply moved by seeing the photographs of Peter Magubanee on a visit to an art gallery in Johannesburg.[1] Three years later, she realized that she had to get out of the country.[1] She emigrated to Canada at age 21 and taught school. She brought a group of students to Expo 67 and that convinced her that Montreal was a congenial place for her due to its energy and international feel.[2]
She attended Concordia University in Montreal for her Masters degree in Fine Art while working for the Inventory of Canadian Buildings, part of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. When she did her Masters degree in Art History, she did a piece of research on urban town planning. It was a history of town planning in Kingston, Montreal and Toronto up until Confederation, documentation for the Historic Sites board.[2] Her thesis for Concordia was on "The role of Environments here and now: three contemporary photographers: Lynne Cohen, Robert del Tredici, Karen Smiley, photography in Canadian painting, 1860-1900: relationships between the photographic image and a style of realism in painting" (1976).
She was hired by the National Gallery of Canada as Assistant Curator of photographs in 1978 working with James W. Borcoman. Her first show was in 1979 of a mini-history of architectural photos all drawn from the collection.[2] Her next big show was of Lisette Model (1990). Other important exhibitions followed such as the Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science - the catalogue was published by the National Gallery of Canada and Yale University Press in 1997 and a show of Lynne Cohen in 2001.[2] When Borcoman retired in 1994, she became the senior Curator of Photography.
Major shows which she curated and for which she authored or co-authored catalogues include Modernist Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada (2007) with its major book catalogue;[3] Don McCullin: A Retrospective (2013), the first solo show of a photojournalist at the gallery;[4]Made in America 1900-1950: Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada (2011); The Great War: the persuasive power of photography (2014) about which the Ottawa Citizen wrote "'Faked' and real images still shock 100 years later"[5] and which had some of its photos discussed on radio;[6] The intimate world of Josef Sudek (2016), the first exhibition of its scale[7] with a 300 page catalogue; and The extended moment: fifty years of collecting photographs at the National Gallery of Canada (2018) which had 175 outstanding photographs and travelled to New York's Morgan Library and Museum.[8] Thomas was also a collection builder and broadened the guidelines of what was collected. Among the treasures she brought into the collection was one of Alvin Langdon Coburn's Vortographs which she was able to acquire in 2007.[9]
In 2018 she acted as the gallery’s chief curator, and also oversaw the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CPI) after the resignation of the director.[1] In 2020, with her retirement in view, she gave a virtual talk at Capture Photography Festival's inaugural virtual talk, mentioning with gratitude artists, photographers, colleagues, collectors, and the collection, saying:
I learned so much from [them] ... that I believe I will take with me as much as I leave behind.[9]
She retired from the National Gallery in 2021.[10] In 2024, for the Portrait Gallery of Canada, she curated the online exhibition Max Dean: Portrait of the Artist as Artist.[11]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Saxberg, Lynne. "Article". ottawacitizen.com. Ottawa Citizen, 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
- ^ a b c d Robb, Peter. "Article". artsfile.ca. Artsfile, 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ Thomas, Ann (2007). Modernist photographs from the National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada. ISBN 9780888848291. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ "Article". charlatan.ca. Charlatan. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ "Review". ottawacitizen.com. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
- ^ "Article". medium.com. Radio Open Source. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ "Review". jeudepaume.org. Jeu de Paume, Paris. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
- ^ "Exhibitions". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Talk". capturephotofest.com. Capture Phography Festival, 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ "Article". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
- ^ "Article". www. newswire.ca. Portrait Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 10 June 2024.