This fifth and final volume in the series dedicated to the National Gallery of Canada’s immense photography collection documents the emergence of the medium as a recognized artistic discipline in Canada. The creation and growth of this unique collection reflects the enormous development in the practice, collection and display of photography over the latter half of the 20th century. Prior to this time, government institutions, commercial establishments and the legal, medical and journalism professions prized it for its documentary value. As a result, photographs rarely entered the collections of major institutions. This changed in the 1960s when art became more vigorous and dynamic. Photography especially articulated probing, contentious ideas of art, the artist, identity, sexuality and community. Art institutions, themselves undergoing radical transformation, acted as an interface between artist and public, and attempted to articulate movements and trends in art and photography. With dozens of full-page plates each accompanied by an individual abstract, the publication offers a scholarly essay providing artistic, cultural and historical context. Artists featured include those at the forefront of the changes in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as more contemporary figures who continue to push at the limits of the definition of the medium.

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