Art Gallery of Ontario announces exhibition line-up for first half of 2023, featuring Wolfgang Tillmans, Mary Cassatt and Sarindar Dhaliwal

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announces new exhibitions on view January to July of 2023.  Showcasing new acquisitions, diverse voices and demonstrating the depth of the AGO Collection, the museum will début seven original exhibitions over seven months, as well as the Canadian première of Wolfgang Tillmans’s celebrated survey from MOMA. The first half of 2023 sets a new landmark for the AGO’s touring program, as five AGO exhibitions are on view across three continents, a complement to the museum’s global vision. Admission to the AGO and all special exhibitions is always free for Indigenous peoples, visitors aged 25 and under, Annual Pass holders and AGO Members.

Exhibitions opening at the AGO between January and July of 2023, include:

Opening January 14, 2023, Ningiukulu Teevee: Chronicles for the Curious is an exhibition of works on paper by the acclaimed Inuk artist, writer and graphic designer. Animals and birds figure prominently in her bold, often abstract, designs, which recount with wit and wonderment contemporary life in the arctic and Inuit lore. Curated by Wanda Nanibush, Curator of Indigenous Art, the exhibition features numerous loans from the collection of Erik Haites.

Opening January 21, 2023, Radical Remembrances: The Sculpture of David Ruben Piqtoukun is a celebration of the Inuvialuk artists’ enduring inventiveness and emotive power. Winner of the 2022 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, Piqtoukun ᑎᕕᑎ ᐱᑐᑯ ᕈᐱᐃᓐ sculpts in stone, metal, wood and bone, combining materials to tell ancient Inuit stories. Curated by Wanda Nanibush, Curator of Indigenous Art, AGO, this exhibition will feature more than 60 sculptures, including recent works.

Opening on January 28, 2023, We Are Story: The Canada Now Photography Acquisition is an exhibition of newly acquired artworks, showcasing the vitality and range of contemporary Canadian photography. Featuring recent works by asinnajaq, Raymond Boisjoly, Aaron Jones, Laurie Kang, Robert Kautuk, Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Sanaz Mazinani, Jalani Morgan, Louie Palu, and Dawit L. Petros, this exhibition is curated by AGO Curatorial Fellow Marina Dumont-Gauthier with AGO Curator of Photography Sophie Hackett. The works were purchased through the Canada Now Photography Acquisition Initiative, conceived in 2020 by Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky, and gallery owner Nicholas Metivier.

Opening in April, 2023, and heralded by Art News as “one of the year’s finest museum exhibitions”, Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear is the artist’s first major retrospective in Canada. Tillmans’ photography ranges from intimate observations to incisive commentary on the shape of our world today. This momentous exhibition will feature ecstatic images of nightlife, sensitive portraits, architectural studies, documents of social movements, still lifes, astronomical phenomena and cameraless abstractions. The exhibition reveals the full breadth of Tillmans’ creative output to date, with photographs, video projections, sound installations and his ongoing project Truth Study Center on display. Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear is organized by the Museum of Modern Art and curated by Roxana Marcoci, The David Dechman Senior Curator, with Caitlin Ryan, Curatorial Assistant, and Phil Taylor, former Curatorial Assistant, Department of Photography. The AGO’s presentation is organized by Sophie Hackett, Curator of Photography. 

Opening June 3, 2023, Cassatt — McNicoll: Impressionists Between Worlds brings together for the first time the art of trailblazing Impressionist painters, Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926) and Helen McNicoll (Canadian, 1879-1915). Leaving behind their homes in North America to pursue lives as professional artists in Europe, they defied convention and played pivotal roles in the global spread of Impressionism. Featuring bold depictions of modern womanhood, this eye-opening exhibition highlights the AGO’s significant collection of McNicoll works and is the first in Canada to present Cassatt’s paintings and works on paper.  Curated by Caroline Shields, Associate Curator and Head of European Art at the AGO, and showcasing more than 65 artworks including paintings, pastels, prints and sketchbooks, this innovative exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated publication co-published by the AGO and Goose Lane Editions.

Opening June 3, 2023, Arnold Newman explores the life and creative career of the acclaimed American photographer. Well-known for his compelling portraits of artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Henry Moore, and Pablo Picasso and renowned composers, actors, political figures of the post WW II era, the exhibition includes Newman’s documentary scenes, abstract compositions, and collages, with particular focus on the way magazine commissions fueled both his work and his reputation. Drawn from the AGO’s extensive collection of his work, the exhibition showcases over 200 photographs Newman made between 1938 and the late 1990s. The photographs reveal his many influences — his family and social networks, historical context, cultural heritage, artistic training and creative interests — and chart his considerable impact on American visual culture.

Opening summer of 2023, from The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambrdge, UK, comes Defaced! Money, Conflict, Protest, an artful exploration of the many ways artists and individuals have used currency for social commentary – by punching it, scratching it, over-printing or even digitally manipulating it. Telling the stories behind the damage, from the French Revolution to the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the Black Lives Matter movement, the exhibition features historical examples of defaced coins and banknotes, alongside contemporary artworks. This exhibition is curated by Dr Richard Kelleher and organized at the AGO by Adam Levine, Assistant Curator of European Art.

Opening on July 22, 2023, Sarindar Dhaliwal considers more than 40 years of artmaking by the South Asian Canadian artist. With intense colour and compelling images, Dhaliwal investigates memory, identity and migration. Marking her significant contribution to Canadian art, this is the artist’s first solo exhibition at the AGO and features meticulously rendered drawings and mixed media works from the 1980s and 2000s, alongside large-scale installations and recent photography. Curated by Renée van der Avoird, Assistant Curator of Canadian Art, this exhibition includes two recent AGO acquisitions, Hey Hey Paula (1998) and the cartographer’s mistake: the Radcliffe Line (2012).

Stay tuned for more information about these and other upcoming exhibitions, at ago.ca/exhibitions. Opening dates may be subject to change.

Beyond Toronto, AGO original exhibitions are on view in early 2023 across Canada and around the world:

• Anthropocene, co-organized by the AGO and the National Gallery of Canada in conjunction with Fondazione MAST, Bologna, continues its world tour. The exhibition will open at Fundación PROA, Buenos Aires on December 17, 2022, before its presentation at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KFMA), Taiwan in summer 2023.
• Fragments of Epic Memory, organized by the AGO and curated by Julie Crooks, will open at Minneapolis Institute of Art on January 7, 2023.
• Diane Arbus, Photographs: 1956–1971, featuring over 150 works from the AGO Collection and curated by the AGO’s Sophie Hackett, it will open at Contemporary Calgary this spring.
• Denyse Thomasos: just beyond, curated by the AGO’s Assistant Curator of Canadian Art, Renée van der Avoird, Remai Modern’s Head of Exhibitions & Collections/Chief Curator Michelle Jacques and guest curator Sally Frater, will open in Saskatoon at Remai Modern on April 15, 2023.  
• Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful, organized by the AGO and curated by Wanda Nanibush, will open at the National Museum for the American Indian on May 25, 2023.

@AGOToronto | #SeeAGO

Contemporary Programming at the AGO is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

ABOUT THE AGO
Located in Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, attracting approximately one million visitors annually. The AGO Collection of more than 120,000 works of art ranges from cutting-edge contemporary art to significant works by Indigenous and Canadian artists and European masterpieces. The AGO presents wide-ranging exhibitions and programs, including solo exhibitions and acquisitions by diverse and underrepresented artists from around the world. In 2019, the AGO launched a bold new initiative designed to make the museum even more welcoming and accessible with the introduction of free admission for anyone 25 years and under and a $35 annual pass. Visit AGO.ca to learn more.

The AGO is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts and generous contributions from AGO Members, donors and private-sector partners.