91福利

Toronto 鈥� The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) is proud to announce a multi-year donation of photographs by celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose iconic images have brought worldwide attention to the impacts of human industry on the natural landscape. The first installment of this gift comprises 142 photographs from the artist鈥檚 early career, a selection of which have been made public in a  on the RIC鈥檚 website. Subsequent annual gifts will make the Toronto-based photography centre the most important global repository for the study of Burtynsky鈥檚 oeuvre.

Edward Burtynsky began his career in the late 1970s at the School of Image Arts of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University). "It was important to me that my life鈥檚 work be housed in a Canadian institution, and it felt like a fitting 'homecoming' to entrust these works to the same place where I first developed as a photographer,鈥� Burtynsky says. 鈥淭he Ryerson Image Centre has become one of the leading museums in the world for photo historical research and has a growing collection of artist archives. I realized that there was no place I would rather have my work preserved and studied.鈥�

Burtynsky鈥檚 first donation includes photographs made between 1976 and 1989, primarily taken at locations across Ontario and Western Canada. Many are unique, and the majority are unrepresented in other museum collections, making the RIC鈥檚 collection a critical resource for exploring the origins of the artist鈥檚 mature style.

The earliest works are the original landscape photographs and city views Burtynsky submitted to his Ryerson instructors in his first and second-year portfolios. While still in school, he began to focus on industrial sites and the relationship between humans and their environment. Rarely-seen photographs from the 1980s trace Burtynsky鈥檚 early explorations of society鈥檚 attempts to control nature鈥攆rom studies of industrial greenhouses and meat-packing plants to interior views of taxidermy studios. Seen together, the photographs in this group represent Burtynsky鈥檚 evolution from classic black-and-white landscape and documentary traditions to the richly-coloured, large- format overviews of industrial sites, mines, and homesteads, and altered landscapes that first established his reputation worldwide. The donation extends to the end of the 1980s, when the artist鈥檚 first major exhibition Breaking Ground began touring museums in Canada, and he began producing his photographs in editions.

鈥淲e are thrilled to be chosen as the place that will preserve Edward Burtynsky鈥檚 work for posterity,鈥� says Paul Roth, Director of the Ryerson Image Centre. 鈥淗e is the premier photographer dealing with the issues surrounding global climate change鈥� the critical subject of our time鈥攁nd one of the most influential landscape photographers in the history of the medium. He is also a great friend of our institution, as an alumnus of Ryerson鈥檚 world-class photography program and a founding board member of the RIC. We look forward to making his life鈥檚 work accessible to students, scholars, and other audiences here in Canada and around the world.鈥�

Each annual donation will add another chronological stage of Burtynsky鈥檚 career to the museum鈥檚 holdings until his entire career is represented. Once fully comprised, the collection will span five-plus decades of his photography on a range of subjects related to industrial manufacturing; landscapes altered for the economic exploitation of oil, water, stone, and other resources; waste and recycling; and the incursion of transportation routes and commercial and residential development into nature.

Burtynsky鈥檚 images have been widely exhibited and published around the world, and have become profoundly influential鈥攂oth for photographers inspired by his arresting style and elevated viewpoints, and by mainstream audiences transfixed by his vision of humankind鈥檚 outsized impact on the environment.

Established in 1969, the RIC鈥檚 collection comprises nearly 375,000 objects, with a special focus on photojournalism and documentary photography. Research and teaching are at the heart of the RIC鈥檚 mandate and the works in the Burtynsky collection will be available for scholars, students, and the public to view by appointment at the RIC鈥檚 Peter Higdon Research Centre (currently closed until further notice due to COVID-19).

91福利 Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky is regarded as one of the world鈥檚 most accomplished contemporary photographers whose works are included in the collections of over 60 major museums around the world. Major (touring) exhibitions include Anthropocene (2018), Water (2013) organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art & Contemporary Art Center, Louisiana; Oil (2009) at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.; China (2005 five-year tour); and Manufactured Landscapes (2003), National Gallery of Canada. Film collaborations include Jennifer Baichwal's Manufactured Landscapes (2006); Watermark (2013); and the third film in the trilogy, ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch which opened in theatres across Canada in October 2018 and in theatres across the US in September 2019. Burtynsky鈥檚 distinctions include the inaugural TED Prize in 2005, which he shared with Bono and Robert Fischell; the Governor General鈥檚 Awards in Visual and Media Arts; the Outreach award at the Rencontres d鈥橝rles; the Roloff Beny Book award; and the 2018 Photo London Master of Photography Award. In 2019 he was the recipient of the Arts & Letters Award at the Canadian Association of New York鈥檚 annual Maple Leaf Ball and the 2019 Lucie Award for Achievement in Documentary Photography. Most recently he was awarded a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship (2020). He currently holds eight honorary doctorate degrees.

@edwardburtynsky

Image at top: Edward Burtynsky, Self Portrait #1, 1983, chromogenic print 漏 Edward Burtynsky/Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto. The Edward Burtynsky Collection, Ryerson Image Centre, Gift of the artist, 2019

91福利 The Ryerson Image Centre

The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) exists for the research, teaching and exhibition of photography and related media. We are an active partner within the academic fabric of Ryerson University, the cultural network of greater Toronto, and the national and international artistic community. We develop rigorous yet inclusive programs for students, faculty, artists, researchers and curators, as well as the general public. The RIC boasts three interrelated areas of activity. Our exhibition program addresses topics of social, cultural, aesthetic and historical concern from a variety of contemporary perspectives. Our Peter Higdon Research Centre conducts and facilitates inquiry into primary resource materials and offers workshops, lectures, symposia and publication programs. Finally, we maintain a collection of photography spanning the medium鈥檚 history, as well as several artist and journalism archives鈥� including the renowned Black Star Collection of twentieth-century photo reportage. For more information, visit .

Ryerson Image Centre 33 Gould Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada

416-979-5164
ric@torontomu.ca
Follow us @RICgallery

91福利 Ryerson University

Ryerson University is Canada's leader in innovative, career-oriented education. Urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the University is home to more than 46,000 students, including 2,900 Master's and PhD students, 3,800 faculty and staff, and over 200,000 alumni worldwide.

- 30 -

Media Contacts:
Kristen Dobbin, Ryerson Image Centre
kristendobbin@torontomu.ca

Alanna Joanne Smith, Studio of Edward Burtynsky
alanna@edwardburtynsky.com