Larry Humber

Art Gallery of Ontario gets gift of more than 450 works

The lion’s share of the donated pieces, from the late collectors Carol and Morton Rapp, are prints and photographs

Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, devoted to ceramics, reopens after $11m renovation

The museum now boasts a gallery dedicated to Indigenous ceramics, expanded education facilities and enough space to display around 40% of its collection

Prizesnews

Tania Willard wins Canada’s top contemporary art prize

The British Columbia-based artist, who is a member of the Secwépemc First Nation, described the experience of taking home the C$100,000 Sobey Art Award as “a waking dream”

Art Toronto gets sales boost from baseball World Series

Canada’s biggest art fair appeared to benefit from the Toronto Blue Jays’ first crack at baseball’s top trophy since 1993

Magnum Photos agency’s first exhibition, lost for a half-century, to make its North American debut

Materials from the 1955-56 exhibition, including 83 photographs, were rediscovered in Austria in 2006

Art Gallery of Ontario acquires more than 200 Peter Hujar photographs

The acquisition comes as the museum’s photography department prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary

Leader of Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum to depart after a decade at the helm

As director and chief executive, Josh Basseches has overseen far-reaching changes at the institution

Prizesnews

Finalists for Canada’s top contemporary art prize, the Sobey Art Award, revealed

The prize, now in its 22nd year, will be the subject of a group show in Ottawa this autumn, and the winner will be revealed in November

Lawren Harris leads the way in Heffel’s all-Canadian marquee spring auctions in Toronto

Works by Group of Seven members Franklin Carmichael and Arthur Lismer, plus Emily Carr, topped the Canadian auction house’s two-part evening sale

Canadian foundation is a boon to moving image artists everywhere

The Vega Foundation has quietly been commissioning, supporting exhibitions of and acquiring works by artists from Alia Farid, Tala Madani, Lap-See Lam, Sharon Lockhart and others

Textile Museum of Canada closing until autumn amid ‘unexpected shortfall in our finances’

The museum’s board chair also cited the need for “urgent repairs” to its building in downtown Toronto

Rediscovered Emily Carr painting bought for $50 sells for 5,000 times original price

The Carr painting was one of the star attractions at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House’s marquee autumn sale in Toronto, alongside works by Tom Thomson, Marcelle Ferron, Kenojuak Ashevak and Chief 7IDANsuu James Hart

New public art partnership will link New York and Toronto

The forthcoming Lassonde Art Trail is teaming up with both the Public Art Fund and York University’s L.L. Odette Sculptor in Residence programme

Toronto will celebrate Henry Moore Day on 13 November

The municipal observance comes 50 years after the city’s leading art museum launched an art centre devoted to Moore

Emily Carr painting bought for $50 at barn sale could bring $148,000 at auction

The 1912 painting is believed to have been gifted by the artist to friends who later moved to the Hamptons, where a discerning dealer nabbed it decades later for a bargain

Cree artist Kent Monkman commissioned to create large outdoor work for new Toronto art trail

The Lassonde Art Trail will launch along the city’s waterfront in 2026

Toronto Biennial spotlights 36 artists—from international stars to emerging Canadian talents—at venues across the city

The biennial’s third edition, organised by co-curators Dominique Fontaine and Miguel A. López under the theme “Precarious Joys”, spans artist-run spaces, major museums and the airport

Art Gallery of Ontario receives 37 works from late telecoms executive's estate

Philip B. Lind left the Toronto museum a trove of works by Stan Douglas, Jeff Wall, Ai Weiwei, William Kentridge, Laurie Simmons and others

Prizesnews

Former Art Gallery of Ontario curator wins Canadian foundation’s curatorial award

Wanda Nanibush and the artist Curtis Santiago are the recipients of this year’s Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Awards

Prizesnews

Finalists for Canada’s top art prize, the Sobey Art Award, revealed

From an initial field of 30 nominees, a shortlist of just six artists is now competing for the prize

‘Electric’ mood at Heffel’s spring sales in Toronto leads to new auction records for Mary Pratt and Takao Tanabe

Works by Jean Paul Riopelle, Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and other titans of Canadian art history contributed to the evening’s total take of C$22.6m

Prizesnews

Pool of artists vying for Canada’s top art prize expands with addition of new regional category

Thirty artists are nominated for the Sobey Art Award this year, with the total purse for the award growing to C$465,000

Art Gallery of Ontario to reopen after month-long strike as workers and leaders reach contract agreement

The Toronto museum had been closed since 26 March, when members of a union representing more than 400 employees went on strike

Meeting of Canadian and Italian prime ministers at Art Gallery of Ontario cancelled due to protest

Pro-Palestine activists rallied outside the museum in protest of Justin Trudeau’s response to the Israel-Hamas war

Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum reveals details of $97m renovation project

The institution's “gift to the city, the province and beyond”, OpenROM will upgrade its public space, improve accessibility and add 6,000 sq. ft of galleries

Art marketanalysis

Works by Canadian abstractionist Jean-Paul Riopelle rack up $8m at Heffel’s evening sale in Toronto

The two-part auction, coinciding with the centenary of Riopelle's birth, took in $17.2m in total

Prizesnews

Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak wins Canada’s top art prize

The 2023 Sobey Art Award went to the Calgary-based artist, who is known for her wide-ranging, multidisciplinary approach that incorporates and reimagines Inuk traditions

Canada’s new two-dollar coin features detail of Jean Paul Riopelle painting

Three million of the coins, affectionately known as “toonies”, will go into circulation to mark the artist’s centennial

Prizesnews

Finalists revealed for Canada’s top contemporary art prize

The winner of the C$100,000 Sobey Art Award for 2023 will be announced in November

Jean-François Bélisle to succeed Angela Cassie as National Gallery of Canada director

NGC's new director, formerly chief curator of Musée d’art de Joliette in Quebec, enters the organisation at a turbulent time in its management