In 1958, music photographer Art Kane brought together 57 prominent jazz musicians on the stoop of a Harlem brownstone to create one of the most important photographs in jazz history. That year, A Great Day in Harlem was published in Esquire magazine, earning Kane numerous accolades for his work. It was so influential that in 1998, XXL magazine commissioned a 40th-anniversary recreation of the seminal group portrait— this time focusing on hip hop. Shot by legendary African American photographer Gordon Parks, A Great Day in Hip Hop (1998) featured over 200 of the genre’s biggest names, from Rakim to E-40, and was published as the centrefold of XXL’s December 1998 issue. 

In conjunction with the Toronto edition of the landmark exhibition The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, the AGO commissioned Canadian hip hop photographer Patrick Nichols to be the next torchbearer of the Great Day tradition. On August 14, 2024, Nichols gathered 103 key figures from three decades of Toronto hip hop for a massive group portrait on the steps of the Toronto heritage building, The Liberty Grand.

Described by Nichols as “a way to give back,” A Great Day in Toronto Hip Hop features a diverse group of MCs, DJs, break dancers, graffiti writers, promoters, designers and media personalities— most of whom he considers personal friends. Among them are the founder of Canada’s first-ever hip hop radio show, Ron Nelson; gold record-selling artists Choclair and Saukretes; and owner of the iconic vinyl shop, Play De Record, Eugene Tam. This monumental portrait is the AGO exhibition’s grand finale, prompting visitors to witness and acknowledge the forebears of the Toronto hip hop community before they exit. 

• Exclusive Member Access: Friday December 20, 2024
• Annual Passholder and General Admission: Saturday December 21
• Located on Level 1 in Gallery 139 – 142

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

Exploring the many ways that the French artist James Tissot represented modern women and envisioned their relationship to time during the last decades of the nineteenth century, this exhibition presents two of the AGO’s most beloved Tissot paintings alongside a selection of more than 40 works on paper donated by Allan and Sondra Gotlieb. The contradiction of the period come alive in these works, as the quickness of modernity, exemplified by the newfound speed of travel, fashion and commodity culture, is juxtaposed against the constrained pace of women’s everyday lives, characterized by the wait to find a husband, caregiving, tending to customers or recovering from illness.

Curated by Mary Hunter, Associate Professor, McGill University and by Alexa Greist, AGO Curator and R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints & Drawings, and Caroline Shields, AGO Curator of European Art, this exhibition illustrates the many ways that time, and a gendered understanding of it, shaped women’s identities.

Hello Volunteers,

On November 20^th we launched the Volunteer Artist Collective, which was most exciting! Our first featured artist was Janne Reuss, engaging on Zoom with a group of volunteers on her exquisite work, her back story, personal anecdotes, and creative process. Janne has been a Gallery Guide at the AGO for ten years and has also been a gallery guide in Germany. Her work is focused on photography through a contemporary lens, although she paints as well. Personally, I love the juxtaposition of the images as a collage, mixed together with her back story incorporating nature and flow. A constant theme in Janne’s work is her interest in human nature and how memories and experiences are imprinted deep inside of us. If you missed the presentation it was recorded. 

Janne’s website: http://www.artjanne.com. 

This purpose of the AGO Volunteer Artist Collective is to engage fellow volunteers who are artists in a collective, giving them the opportunity to present their work to fellow volunteers, and even display their work, which we all can enjoy and interact with, in the Volunteer Lounge.  

Our next artist to be featured will be the talented Aliye Akbarzade, who equally articulates her life experiences and personal story creatively with focus into her paintings.  (Look for a date in February, soon to be shared).

We have a few volunteers who have informally expressed interest in participating to Holly and myself, and we are strongly encouraging all volunteer artists to participate. All levels of art are welcome – you do not need to be a professional artist to participate! – whether you are new, emerging, established, amateur, or professional – we would love to feature you in the AGO Volunteer Artist Collective!

The process is expressing your interest, (via the form below) which will prompt a conversation with the Volunteer President initially, then the presentation which can be organized either online via Zoom, or in person.  

Please fill out this expression of interest /submission form and we will be in touch: https://forms.gle/hyYg9cNufBbBo9aH7

Thanks to all for your interest and participation!  

Best,

Barbara Glaser 

Volunteer President 

Opening this week, The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, with access as follows:

• Exclusive Member Access: December 4 -6
• Exclusive Member & Annual Passholder Access: December: December 7 – January 5, 2025
• General Admission for All: January 7 – April 6, 2025

Exhibition Overview

Immersing viewers in the world of hip-hop through contemporary art and fashion, The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century brings together contemporary artists, musicians, designers and stylists to tell the story of the art form and its global impact on visual culture.

Organized on the occasion of Hip Hop’s fiftieth anniversary and featuring contemporary art by some of today’s most important and celebrated artists, including Derrick Adams, John Edmonds, Deana Lawson and Hank Willis Thomas, this dynamic and wide-ranging exhibition highlights the art form’s ongoing conceptual and material innovation. Placing fashion, consumer marketing, music, videos and objects in dialogue with paintings, sculpture, poetry, photography and multi-media installations, the exhibition considers activism and racial identity, notions of bling and swagger, as well as gender, sexuality and feminism. 

The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century is co-organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art and Saint Louis Art Museum. The Toronto presentation is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario. The AGO presentation will be organized by Julie Crooks, Curator, Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora, AGO.

To Learn More About the Show, Watch the Exhibition Launch video, shared below. Please note, you will be asked for a password to view, please enter this password (exactly as typed, here): AGO+Cultur3

https://artcloud.ago.ca/index.php/s/Qd3myR8W6oMwbPG

ORDER OF SPEAKERS:

• Melissa Ramage, Project Manager, Exhibition – Exhibition and Team introduction
• Julie Crooks, Curator, Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora – Exhibition overview, big idea, and exhibition walkthrough 
• Emilie Croning, Curatorial Assistant, Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora – Visitor outcomes and graphic design 
• Amy Wu – Exhibition Marketing  
• Bojana Stancic, Program Curator, Performance and Live, and Melissa Ramage – Opening week and programming  
• Allison Miller, Manager, Corporate Partnerships – Development and donor engagement 

Join us: Wednesday December 11, 6pm

This presentation has been organized as a recognition event for all volunteers, to come together and enjoy a favourite show, before the holidays. Learn more about these vibrant works, and the life of this daring and charismatic Artist who travelled the world! An expressive painter and master of the narrative quilt, Abad was also fiercely political, creating work that referenced multiculturalism and immigration.

This is an in-gallery, Curator’s Tour, organized exclusively for all AGO volunteers. We will have the galleries mic’d – so you can enjoy a walk and talk with Renee throughout the galleries and looking at the works in more detail (and you will be able to hear it all!) No need to register for this one, just drop-in. We look forward to seeing you there!

*Please note: Because this is an in-gallery tour – by volunteer request – we regret we cannot record this event. Please make plans to join us if you can. Wednesday evening volunteers – please come and enjoy as part of your shift!

Hello everyone,

It is nearly the start of a new month. This is a busy time at the AGO and I am really proud of the content we will be sharing with our public this holiday season.

Next week, I go on my final business trip of the calendar year. I will be in Lyon and Paris with Bizot Group, which is comprised of the Directors of the top 50 or so museums internationally, and we will be discussing the evolving role of museums in contemporary society. I will also have the opportunity to share the AGO experience of adopting the Bizot Green Protocols to reduce carbon use in our building operations, while maintaining a safe environment for artwork preservation.

Take care,

Stephan

Hello Volunteers! Last week we were happy to have Artist and AGO Gallery Guide Janne Reuss join us for the launch of the AGO Volunteer Artist Collective – an opportunity for all artists across the volunteer program to share their work with each other. We recorded this session for those that couldn’t attend but wanted to hear about Janne and her work, in her own words. It was a remarkable presentation, shared HERE (click on this link to view): Janne Reuss AGO Volunteer Artist Collective talk

Thank you, Janne! Our next guest Artist to present in the AGO Volunteer Artist Collection is Alieh Akbarzadeh. Watch for a date in the new year.

Hello everyone,

The 5th floor is busy with The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21^st Century in mid-installation. With every exhibition there are surprises – sometimes good, sometimes less good. One of the major works in the exhibition was too large to squeeze from the E.R. Wood Gallery into the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Sculpture Atrium. Moby Dick (for Oscar Wilde, Oscar Romero y Oscar Grant) by William Cordova is a sculptural work made from a reclaimed police car and other materials. Instead of admitting defeat, the Logistics and Art Services and Conservation teams devised a new method to transport the work. Below are great pictures of the work propped up on its side on a custom cradle on its way to its intended destination on the 5^th Floor. Thank you, all!

On Wednesday, the AGO Board of Trustees met in the Weston Family Learning Centre. We provided an overview of our current financial position (we are tracking to a balanced budget if we continue to keep things tight), shared recent developments in the Brand & Business and Education & Programming areas, and Dr. Julie Crooks presented on The Culture.

Take care,

Stephan

Hello Everyone,

This week marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre. We marked the occasion with programming and publicity, and it gave me a moment to reflect. It is a truly beautiful space, filled with monumental plaster sculptures, in an elegant gallery designed by Toronto architect John Parkin in partnership with Moore. Five decades later, it still feels contemporary.

Everyone has a story about the Moore Centre – it really does seem part of our museum and the city of Toronto. One of the paradoxes of the Moore sculptures is that while they look bold and monumental, they are actually extremely fragile. Lisa Ellis in Conservation spoke this week about how many of them are made of simple crude wood forms covered in chicken wire with a pretty thin layer of plaster. 

Click here for more information from Adam Welch in Curatorial and Lisa Ellis about the Moore Centre.

I know many of you are hard at work installing and ramping up for the upcoming exhibition The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century on the fifth floor. I have a feeling that it will be a popular exhibition for the holiday season.

Stephan

We are excited to welcome Janne Reuss, AGO Gallery Guide volunteer and our first Guest Artist:

• WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 20
• 10:30am – 11:30am
• Online, via Zoom (linked HERE):
• (*please log on no more than 5 minutes before the presentation begins) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85429082094?pwd=KTtKmuQaji7Ix5b862ARRMCnaaaZFE.1
• Meeting ID: 854 2908 2094
• Passcode: 763520

In this presentation, Janne will showcase her art of photography and the unique personal meaning behind her works; for reference here is Janne’s website www.artjanne.com I first viewed Janne’s photography at Art Toronto last year and so thrilled to see her launch this important volunteer artist collective. 

The AGO Volunteer Artist Collective initiative was born out of conversations I had with volunteers in the lounge and the incredible pool of creative talent we can highlight and showcase, as a community.

We, Holly, I and the artists, are excited to launch this initiative. Equally as Volunteer President, I’m so thrilled to see this idea come to life, and highlight the talents of so many of our volunteers, and what we create outside the gallery walls; as artists, our visions and mandates. This will give us all, volunteers over different days, shifts and placements, an opportunity to come together as a community.

Barbara Glaser

Volunteer President