Arnaud Maggs

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Arnaud Maggs
BornMay 5, 1926
Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts
for Lifetime Achievement (2006); Scotiabank Photography Award (2012)

Arnaud Maggs (May 5, 1926 – November 17, 2012)[1] was a Canadian artist and photographer. Born in Montreal, Maggs is best known for stark portraits arranged in grid-like arrangements,[2] which illustrate his interest in systems of identification and classification.[3]

After training and working as a graphic designer, Maggs turned to commercial photography in the 1960s. Beginning in 1967, he produced editorial fashion mages and portraiture for several Canadian magazines such as Maclean's, Chatelaine, Saturday Night, Canadian Business, and Toronto Life.[3] At the age of 47, Maggs decided to become a visual artist concentrating on photography and conceptualism and focusing on such things as death notices and tags documenting child labour in French textile factories.[2]

Works

Joseph Beuys: 100 Profile Views, Düsseldorf, 21.10.80 (detail), 1980

Maggs's explorations of the grid, portraiture, and collecting informed his investigations into such themes as systems and classification, time, memory, and death.[4] Characteristic of Maggs' early work are his black-and-white portraits taken from the front, side and back, and presented in grid formation.[5] Maggs' use of the grid was influenced by his background in graphic design as well as his interest in Conceptual art.[6] By including numerous similar photos in one work, Maggs invoked the idea of duration, inviting viewers to compare changes in images over time.[6] In his series 48 Views, 1981-1982, he used this grid style to portray cultural figures including Yousuf Karsh, Jane Jacobs and Michael Snow.[6]

The most famous of his grid works were his internationally acclaimed portraits of Joseph Beuys, Joseph Beuys: 100 Frontal Views, Düsseldorf, 21.10.80 and Joseph Beuys: 100 Profile Views, Düsseldorf, 21.10.80.[7] Created in Beuys' Düsseldorf home in 1980, the images appear to be identical, but are 200 different photographs of Beuys attempting to sit completely still.[7] The same year, Maggs photographed André Kertész, then 86, in his André Kertész, 144 Views.[8] His grid work "fascinated, disturbed and exerted tremendous influence in art and magazine circles," wrote Martha Langford in 2010.[9]

By the mid-1980s, Maggs shifted away from portraiture and turned his focus to typography, which had been a prominent aspect of his work as a graphic designer. He replaced the human head with number- and letterforms in his photography and paintings, although he displayed an ongoing fascination with shape, scale, and classification.[3]

Maggs's concern for classification extended to work he made of historical documents such as the address book of Eugène Atget, rare books and ephemera, and collections of miscellany.[10] He was also fascinated with the history of photography.[11]

Often examining existing systems of identification and classification in his works, Maggs developed his own classification scheme in Hotel Series, 1991. He photographed more than 300 vertical hotel signs in

Presentation House (Vancouver) in 1993. Maggs arranged the photographs in the book by lettering style so that each page contains five similar hotel signs.[12]

Since the late 1970s, Maggs has been the subject of numerous

International Centre of Photography in New York (1992).[10]

His work is in many public collections including the National Gallery of Canada,[13] Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Alberta, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts,[15] the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa,[16] McMaster Museum of Art,[17] and the Portland Art Museum, Oregon.[18] Arnaud Maggs is represented by Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto.

Awards

In 1984, Maggs was given the

Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.[20] In 2012, Maggs was awarded the Scotiabank Photography Award.[21]

Death and afterwards

Arnuld Maggs died of cancer in Toronto on November 17, 2012. In 2013, an exhibition titled the Scotiabank Photography Award: Arnaud Maggs was held at the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto. It featured a selection of work curated by the artist during his final months.

Jean-Charles Deburau as Pierrot in nine photographs including an announcement of someone`s death.[23] As Sutnik observed, Maggs` performance in his own studio in these photographs, not only concerned the history of photography but, knowing that he was about to die, announced his own forthcoming death. She called them "poignant".[23]

A postage stamp depicting Magg's photograph of Yousuf Karsh was issued on March 22, 2013, by Canada Post as part of their Canadian Photography series.[24][25]

A documentary film about Maggs and his partner of 25 years,

Hot Docs Film Festival. His fonds is at the City of Toronto Archives number 1598.[26]

References

  1. ^ a b Knelman, Martin (2012). "Toronto photographer Arnaud Maggs dies at 86". Toronto Star, Nov 18. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  2. ^ a b "Canada Council for the Arts Biography". Archived from the original on 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4871-0276-0
    .
  4. ISBN 978-1-4871-0276-0
    .
  5. ^ Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal ::: Arnaud Maggs: Nomenclature Archived November 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4871-0309-5
    .
  7. ^ a b The Canada Council for the Arts – Maggs Essay Archived February 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Monk, Philip (June 16, 2014). "Elgaic Pantomine: Arnaud Maggs After Nadar". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  9. ISBN 978-0-19-542125-5
    .
  10. ^ a b Weir, Stephen. "Arnaud Maggs Dies". www.huffingtonpost.ca. Huffington Post. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  11. ^ Enright, Robert. "Designs on Life: An Interview with Arnaud Maggs". bordercrossingsmag.com. Bordencrossings magazine, Fall 2012. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
  12. ISBN 978-1-4871-0276-0
    .
  13. ^ a b "Arnaud Maggs". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  14. ^ "Arnaud Maggs: Nomenclature". macm.org. Musée d’art contemporain. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  15. ^ "Scotiabank today issued the following statement on the passing of Canadian artist and photographer Arnaud Maggs on November 17th, 2012". /www.newswire.ca. Scotia Bank. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  16. ^ Maggs, Arnaud. "Collection". rmg.minisisinc.com. Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  17. ^ "Collection". emuseum.mcmaster.ca. McMaster Museum of Art. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  18. ^ "Collection". portlandartmuseum.us. Portland Art Museum, Oregon. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  19. ^ "Prizes". Canada Council. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  20. ^ The Canada Council for the Arts – Maggs Bio Archived February 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "Scotiabank Photography Award". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  22. ^ "Scotiabank Photography Award: Arnaud Maggs". ryersonimagecentre.ca. Ryerson University, Toronto. Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  23. ^ a b c Maia-Mari Sutnik, "Paris Photo: A distinctive, thrilling experience". Paris Photo 1997-2016 Parcours, 2016, Paris Photo and Éditions Xavier Barral, Paris
  24. ^ "New photography stamp series gives an appreciation of Canada's best". Canada Post. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  25. ^ "Canadian Photography". Canada Post. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  26. ^ "Digitized Photographs By Fonds & Series". www.toronto.ca. Toronto. Retrieved 2021-04-13.

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arnaud_Maggs&oldid=1213254762"