FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2013 Kleinburg, ON – The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is thrilled to announce that Edward Burtynsky has donated all thirty photographs from the recently held-over exhibition Edward Burtynsky: The Landscape That We Change to the permanent collection. Visitors to the gallery can view these breathtaking large-scale chromogenic prints until October 14, 2013.
The donated works are drawn from several series spanning over thirty years, including Railcuts, Homesteads, Mining, Tailings, China, Oil, as well as new works from Burtynsky’s much talked about Water series, which includes a touring exhibition, the new documentary Watermark, and an iPad® app.
“This extraordinary gift from Edward Burtynsky will add depth and breadth to the Collection,” said Victoria Dickenson, McMichael Executive Director and CEO. “These photographs are significant in that they allow us a deeper understanding of photography as an artistic reflection of our culture, our times, and our relationship with nature themes that the McMichael is committed to exploring.”
Edward Burtynsky has received increasing international recognition for his images that are simultaneously an interpretation of place – from the local environs to international sites – and a means to communicate the visual reality of the transformative human impact on nature.
“The McMichael Canadian Art Collection believes that the donation of works by Edward Burtynsky is of outstanding significance and national importance by reason of its aesthetic qualities and its contribution to Canadian national identity,” said exhibition curator Chris Finn. “These photographs were also selected for their suitability in supporting the historical aesthetic interest with a contemporary re-interpretation that is associated with one of the major pillars of Canadian art in the permanent collection – the Group of Seven.”
This is the third major donation of image material to the gallery in the last three years. In 2012, the McMichael acquired twenty-one chromogenic prints from the series Group of Seven, Awkward Moments (2008) by Winnipeg artist Diana Thorneycroft. In 2010, almost 7500 colour images of the Canadian Arctic were donated to the gallery from internationally recognized ethnographer, author and photographer Norman E. Hallendy.
Edward Burtynsky’s photographs can be found in the collections of more than fifty public galleries worldwide, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Photographs from The Landscape That We Change will be displayed either in part or as an installation in its entirety in future McMichael exhibitions and will also be available for loan.
About the McMichael Canadian Art Collection
The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an agency of the Government of Ontario and acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. It is the foremost venue in the country showcasing the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. In addition to touring exhibitions, its permanent collection consists of almost 6,000 artworks by Canadian artists, including paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, as well as First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists. The gallery is located on 100 acres of northern landscape and hiking trails at 10365 Islington Avenue, Kleinburg, north of Major Mackenzie Drive in the City of Vaughan.
For more information: www.mcmichael.com.
Media Contacts:
Wendy Campbell
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905.893.1121 ext. 2201
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Rachel Weiner
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905.893.1121 ext. 2210
rweiner@mcmichael.com