The Collection
Since 1969, the photographs collection at The Image Centre has comprised a teaching and research resource unique in Canada. Nearly 400,000 objects offer researchers the remarkable opportunity to study firsthand works by photographers of international status.
Depuis 1969, la collection de photographies de l’Image Centre (centre de l'image) constitue une ressource unique au Canada pour l'enseignement et la recherche. Près de 400 000 objets offrent aux chercheurs la possibilité remarquable d'étudier de première main les œuvres de photographes de renommée internationale.
- About
- The Collection
- From the Collection Features
- Peter Higdon Research Centre
- Search the Collection
Andreas Feininger, Helicopter during take-off, New Jersey, 1949, gelatin silver print, fiber based. The Image Centre, Gift of Gertrud Feininger, 2009 (IA.2009.0108)
Depuis 1969, la collection de photographies de l’Image Centre (centre de l'image) constitue une ressource unique au Canada pour l'enseignement et la recherche. Près de 400 000 objets offrent aux chercheurs la possibilité remarquable d'étudier de première main les œuvres de photographes de renommée internationale.
- About
- The Collection
- From the Collection Features
- Peter Higdon Research Centre
- Search the Collection
About
The Collection
Historical photographs by such seminal figures as Eugène Atget, Brassaï, Andreas Feininger, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Steichen, and Edward Weston join works by contemporary artists including Edward Burtynsky, Clara Gutsche, Ruth Kaplan, Arnaud Maggs, and Gabor Szilasi. To more fully represent the working methods of photographers and news agencies, The Image Centre (formerly Ryerson Image Centre) has in recent years acquired a number of large archival collections, including the Black Star collection of press photography, the Rudolph P. Bratty Family Collection of Canadian subject matter from the New York Times Photo Archive, and several individual artist archives. Other highlights include a complete run of unbound issues of the popular picture magazine Life, an important contextual complement for The Image Centre’s photojournalistic holdings, as well as nearly 3,000 19th and early-20th-century stereographic objects from the Dr. Martin J. Bass and Gail Silverman Bass Collection. The Image Centre’s longstanding commitment to collecting and connoisseurship is reflected through the continued preservation, study, and display of a wide range of photographic subjects, mediums, and approaches.
The Collection
- Berenice Abbott Archive
- Black Star Collection
- Jo Spence Memorial Archive
- More collection highlights
- Rudolph P. Bratty Family Collection
- Wendy Snyder MacNeil Archive
- Werner Wolff Archive
- Bass Collection
- Canadian photographs from the collection of Christopher Varley
- Francis Bedford Research Collection
- Minna Keene and Violet Keene Perinchief Collection
- Tanenbaum Photographic Case Collection
- The Edward Burtynsky Collection
Berenice Abbott (American, b. 1898 d. 1991), [portrait of an unknown woman, New York City], 1942–04–04, four gelatin silver prints mounted to board, made with Supersight camera. Berenice Abbott Archive, The Image Centre (AG04.2012.2010:0065)
Photographer unknown, [Nuclear weapons testing in the South Pacific Ocean], ca. 1950, gelatin silver print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre (BS.2005.236812)
Jo Spence (British, b. 1934 d. 1992) and Terry Dennett (British, b. 1938), The highest product of capitalism (after John Heartfield). From Remodelling Photo History (The History Lesson), 1979–1982, gelatin silver print. Jo Spence Memorial Archive, The Image Centre (AG03.2010.2000:0001)
Hippolyte Bayard (French, b. 1801 d. 1887), Portrait d'Homme, Edition des Calotypes Originaux D'Hippolyte Bayard, ca. mid 1840's, gelatin silver print. The Image Centre (FP.1980.0010)
Unknown photographer for Federal Newsphotos of Canada, [LARGEST TREE EVER CUT on the Canadian Pacific Coast is this Sitka spruce, girth of which dwarfs Verna Maynard, daughter of the Queen Charlotte Island Camp superintendent where it was toppled], Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii), British Columbia, Canada, August 1956, gelatin silver print. The Rudolph P. Bratty Family Collection, The Image Centre (NYT_37-19)
Wendy Snyder MacNeil (American, b. 1943 d. 2016), [Poster for photographic exhibition], ca. 1968, lithograph. Wendy Snyder MacNeil Archive, The Image Centre (AG01.01.01.0001)
Werner Wolff (German, b. 1911 d. 2002), Picture Strip, U.S. from Coast to Coast, 1948, gelatin silver print. Werner Wolff Archive, The Image Centre (AG02.2009.0832:048)
William Samuel Gottheil (German-American, 1859–1920), published by Imperial Publishing Company, Leucoplakia Buccalis, 1916, hand-coloured, ferrotyped, halftoned gelatin silver prints mounted on card. The Image Centre, Dr. Martin J. Bass and Gail Silverman Bass Collection (RIC.2014.0195)
Jerremiah Doody, Dawson by the Light of the Aurora Borealis, ca. 1908, gelatin silver print. The Image Centre, Gift of Christopher Varley, 2018 (RIC.2018.0066)
Francis Bedford, Wells Cathedral, The West Front, 1859 (or later), albumen print. The Francis Bedford Research Collection, The Image Centre
Minna Keene, South African Flower Seller, 1903–1913, salt paper print. The Minna Keene and Violet Keene Perinchief Collection, The Image Centre, Gift of the Sturrup Family, 2020
Case: Unidentified manufacturer; die engraved by F. Goll; Voyage of Life, The Launching 1 (recto and verso), 1852–1869, Union sixth-plate thermoplastic case. Gift of Howard and Carole Tanenbaum, 2022 (RIC.2021.0001:0261)
Edward Burtynsky, Holland Marsh, Ontario, from the series Packing, 1983, chromogenic print © Edward Burtynsky/Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto. The Edward Burtynsky Collection, The Image Centre, Gift of the artist, 2019
From the Collection Features
From the Collection is a rotating display highlighting works from The Image Centre’s permanent collection.
Laura Aguilar
April 29–June 11, 2023
Marcia Resnick
March 6–April 8, 2018
Sister(s) in the Struggle: Angela Davis and Kathleen Cleaver
January 18–April 9, 2017
Peter Higdon Research Centre
About
The Peter Higdon Research Centre (PHRC), located on the second floor above the galleries at 33 Gould Street, supports scholarly activities by students, faculty, curators, visiting artists and critical writers in an environment that maintains an extensive range of collections material.
Related resources in the form of artist files, journals and a rare books collection provide further support material. The Research Centre is staffed with professionals who are available to researchers for consultation. An accessible database is provided in aid of focused collections searches.
The Image Centre, though it owns the works in its collections, does not own copyright to all objects. Presently, we are not engaged in licensing image use or in providing reproductions.
Hours
By appointment only
416.979.5000 x 552376
imagecentre.collects@torontomu.ca
Access
For information on access to the collection, please contact: imagecentre.collects@torontomu.ca or 416.979.5000 x 552376
Location:
122 Bond Street, Second Floor,
Room IMC-241
Toronto, Ontario M5B 1E9
Peter Higdon
The Image Centre's research centre is named after Peter Higdon, our founding Collections Curator, who retired in 2014 after 35 years of service at Toronto Metropolitan University. Peter played an instrumental role in shaping TorontoMet's photography collection into a world-class resource.
Peter Higdon Research Centre, 2018 © The Image Centre
Search the Collection
To make The Image Centre’s collection more accessible, we’re digitizing the more than 400,000 objects in our collection and putting this information online. As we are constantly adding information and new objects to the collection, the database is a living, changing entity. Object records evolve through research, new scholarship, and an ongoing dialogue and interaction with those who make use of the objects.
The Image Centre online collection contains copyrighted information and copyrighted works. The works in this online collection are protected by Canada’s Copyright Act and laws, and by applicable copyright laws of other countries. No images may be copied or downloaded, and images may only be used strictly for research, private study or education, and not for commercial purposes. Any additional terms, restrictions or notices appearing on individual pages of this online collection must be observed.
For any questions related to the database, please contact us at imagecentre.collects@torontomu.ca