Opening Reception: Saturday, May 9, 2-5 pm
Remarks: Saturday, May 9, 3:00 pm
Exhibition Dates: May 9 – June 27, 2026
After training and working as a graphic designer, Arnaud Maggs (b. May 5, 1926, Montréal; d. November 17, 2012, Toronto) turned to commercial photography. From 1967, he produced editorial fashion images and portraiture for Canadian magazines including Maclean’s, Chatelaine, Saturday Night, Canadian Business, and Toronto Life. At the age of 47, Maggs decided to become a visual artist, concentrating on photography and conceptualism, creating works largely based on systems of identification, sometimes of his own invention. This exhibition will feature works from his series Downwind Photographs, 64 Views, After Nadar, Hotel, and Notification.
Maggs frequently referenced the history of photography within his work, drawing in various ways on figures such as Nadar, Alphonse Bertillon, Eugène Atget, André Kertész, August Sander, and Walker Evans. He was also interested in the filmic aspects of still photography, and in the idea of composing and editing work within the camera. Attuned to the technical conditions of analogue photography, the artist’s works revealed and embraced the “accidental” elements inherent to the medium—light leaks, clip scratches, misaligned film, multiple exposures, and other unforeseen occurrences.
Maggs’ work has been exhibited internationally since the mid-1970s, and is the subject of two monographs, as well as several exhibition catalogues. His work can be found in numerous private and public collections, including the Agnes Etherington Art Gallery, Kingston; Art Gallery of Hamilton; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, Montréal; Giverny Capital Inc., Montréal; Library and Archives Canada; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Vancouver Art Gallery; Winnipeg Art Gallery; National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; FRAC Rhône-Alpes, Lyon; and the Margulies Collection, Miami, among others.
