Tobi Bruce

Last updated

Tobi Bruce
Born1965 (age 58–59)
Montreal, Canada
EducationHonours BA in art history from Queen's University, Kingston (1989); MA in Canadian art history from Carleton University, Ottawa (1999)
OccupationArt curator

Tobi Bruce (born 1965) has been the Director of Exhibitions and Collections and Senior Curator at the Art Gallery of Hamilton since 2015. [1] She is a Canadian art historian who places curatorial collaboration at the centre of her practice.

Career

Bruce was born and grew up in Montreal. She received her Honours BA in Art History from Queen's University, Kingston (1989) and her MA in Canadian Art History from Carleton University, Ottawa (1999). From 1991 to 1992, she served as Acting Registrar of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, then went to the Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH), as Registrar in 1993. She was appointed Curator of Historical Art in 1999 and in 2015, Director of Exhibitions and Collections. [1]

She has focused on Canadian historical art in exhibitions ranging from biography with her show of the Canadian artist Harriet Ford (2001) to her exhibition and publication on the history of the Art Gallery of Hamilton's historical Canadian collection Lasting Impressions: celebrated works from the Art Gallery of Hamilton (2005) [2] which she co-authored to her co-curated exhibition William Kurelek: The Messenger (2011) which was the first retrospective of his art in a quarter century and the largest ever mounted. [3] In the same year, she also co-curated The French Connection: Canadians at the Paris Salons, 1880–1900.

In 2014, after three years of research and two trips to Sweden and France, she curated her major retrospective and co-authored the book Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce (1859–1906), to examine the artist from different viewpoints (indigenous included) to achieve diversity. [4] [5] In 2015, she co-curated The Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by historical Canadian women artists (2015) with Alicia Boutilier of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. This exhibition expanded the genre's definition by using not only the human face but other art forms to explore self-representation. [4] Her 2021 exhibition Tom Thomson: The Art of Authentication co-curated and authored again with Boutilier, established criteria to authenticate a work of art, taking as its focus the work of Tom Thomson and exhibiting possible Thomsons and known fakes to illustrate the help authentication can provide. The exhibition was called a "rewarding experience" as an examination of authentication and forgery in art, using Tom Thomson as case in point. [6] The show was rated one of the best exhibitions of the season by the Art Institute of Canada because it gave insight into the extensive problem-solving that museum professionals undertake in tracing authenticity. [7]

Bruce has contributed a chapter to Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons at the National Gallery of Canada (2019) and also has written entries to such exhibitions as Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven , Vancouver Art Gallery (2015) and Uninvited, Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement, McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2021). Her lectures on Canadian art include one on "Canadian Art-Making and Making Art Exhibitions" to a panel of Archivists, Librarians and Curators at the Art Libraries Society of North America 40th Annual Conference, Toronto (2012). She has been an Adjunct Lecturer in Canadian Art History at McMaster University, Hamilton, since 2016 and has served on the Board of Trustees, Association of Art Museum Curators (2017–2020; 2020–2022).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group of Seven (artists)</span> Group of Canadian landscape painters (1920–1933)

The Group of Seven, once known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, with "a like vision". It originally consisted of Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1974), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). A. J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join in 1926, Edwin Holgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930, and Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Group of Painters</span>

The Canadian Group of Painters (CGP) was a collective of 28 painters from across Canada who came together as a group in 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Helena McGillivray</span>

Florence Helena McGillivray, also known as F H. McGillivray, was a Canadian landscape painter known for her Post-Impressionist style. Her family home was in Whitby, Ontario. She lived in Ottawa from 1914 to 1928. She was also a teacher. In 1916, on a visit to his studio, she encouraged Tom Thomson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Carlyle</span>

Florence Emily Carlyle was a Canadian figure and portrait painter, known especially for her handling of light and fabric. Her work is included in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Brymner</span>

William Brymner, was a Canadian figure and landscape painter and educator. In addition to playing a key role in the development of Impressionism in Canada, Brymner taught numerous artists who became leading figures in Canadian modern art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Howard (artist)</span> Canadian artist

Helen Barbara Howard was a Canadian painter, wood-engraver, drafter, bookbinder and designer who produced work consistently throughout her life, from her graduation in 1951 from the Ontario College of Art until her unexpected death in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Gallery of Hamilton</span> Art museum in Ontario, Canada

The Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) is an art museum located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The museum occupies a 7,000 square metres (75,000 sq ft) building on King Street West in downtown Hamilton, designed by Trevor P. Garwood-Jones. The institution is southwestern Ontario's largest and oldest art museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Etherington Art Centre</span> Art museum in Ontario, Canada

The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in Kingston, Ontario, in the heart of the historic campus of Queen's University. Situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory, the gallery has received a number of awards for its exhibitions from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Association of Art Galleries and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabel McLaughlin</span> Canadian artist (1903-2002)

Isabel McLaughlin, was a Modernist Canadian painter, patron and philanthropist. She specialized in landscapes and still life and had a strong interest in design.

Carol Lorraine Sutton is a multidisciplinary artist born in Norfolk, Virginia, USA and now living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is a painter whose works on canvas and paper have been shown in 32 solo exhibits as well as being included in 94 group shows. Her work, which ranges from complete abstraction to the use of organic and architectural images, relates to the formalist ideas of Clement Greenberg and is noted for the use of color. Some of Sutton paintings have been related to ontology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Murray (art historian)</span> Canadian writer, curator, and art historian

Joan Arden Charlat Murray is an American-born Canadian art historian, writer and curator who is an advocate for Canadian art and curators.

Mary Alexandra Bell Eastlake was a Canadian painter most notable for her portraits of women and children, as well as a jewelry and enamelwork designer and producer.

Nancy Tousley is a senior art critic, journalist, art writer and independent curator whose practice has included writing for a major daily newspaper, art magazines, and exhibition catalogues.

Milly Ristvedt, also known as Milly Ristvedt-Handerek, is a Canadian abstract painter. Ristvedt lives and paints in Ontario, where she is represented by the Oeno Gallery. A monograph covering a ten-year retrospective of her work, Milly Ristvedt-Handerek: Paintings of a Decade, was published by the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in 1979. In 2017, a second monograph was published by Oeno Gallery which included a survey of paintings from 1964 through to 2016, Milly Ristvedt, Colour and Meaning : an incomplete palette.

Jan Allen is a Canadian curator, writer, visual artist, and assistant professor in the Department of Art History and Art Conservation, and the Cultural Studies Program, at Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario.

Winsom is a Canadian-Jamaican Maroon multi-media artist working in textiles, painting, video, installations, and puppetry. Her work explores human spirituality.

Elisabeth Margaret Hopkins, born in Fort Gilkicker, Hampshire, England, was a painter and writer in British Columbia.

Linda Jansma was the Interim Director of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa (2019-2020) and Senior Curator (1994-2012). She is a Canadian art historian who places collaborative partnerships with institutions across Canada at the centre of her practice.

Alicia Boutilier has been the Curator of Canadian Historical Art at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre since 2008 and in addition, was appointed Chief Curator in 2017. In 2020, she served as the Interim Director at the gallery and received a special recognition award from Queen's University at Kingston for her work as a team leader, adapting to the new realities caused by Covid. She is a Canadian art historian with wide-ranging concerns, among them women artists, the building of collections, and the combination of art with craft.

T. R. MacDonald was a Canadian painter and photographer of nudes, portraits, still life, and street scenes. As an Official Second World War artist, he served in the First Canadian Infantry Division. In 1947, he became founding curator-director of the Art Gallery of Hamilton (1947–1973) and his "painter's eye" informed and assisted the growth of the gallery for over 25 years. "At the very core he was -- and always remained -- an artist" said Tobi Bruce, author of Lasting Impressions: Celebrated Works from the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

References

  1. 1 2 Tobi Bruce file, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, Canada
  2. ↑ Bruce, Tobi (2005). Lasting Impressions: celebrated works from the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  3. ↑ Grainger, Brett (12 June 2012). "The Pragmatic Prophet". thewalrus.ca. The Walrus, 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Tobi Bruce". worldcat.org. World Catalogue Identities. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  5. ↑ Haggo, Douglas (24 May 2014). "Hamilton's most famous painter comes home Major exhibition celebrates artist whose paintings launched Art Gallery of Hamilton". The Hamilton Spectator. Hamilton Spectator, 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  6. ↑ Mahoney, Jeff (27 December 2021). "Will real Tom Thomson please stand up (to scrutiny)? Art Gallery of Hamilton show delves into how paintings are authenticated". The Hamilton Spectator. The Spectator, Hamilton. 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "Best in Show Must-See Exhibitions of the Season" (PDF). www.aci-iac.ca. Art Canada Institute. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.