With the exception of his autobiographical artwork, 15, a catalogue entry in The Winnipeg Perspective 1979—Photo/Extended Dimensions, and his personal notebooks, Arnaud Maggs did not write about his work. But there exists a long publication and exhibition record related to his art practice. While his work in design and commercial art is not as thoroughly represented in the literature, his Kodak Lecture Series talk and the various interviews he did help to reveal some of the details about his earlier careers.
Library and Archives Canada and the Estate of Arnaud Maggs
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) holds the Arnaud Maggs fonds, offering a rich collection of materials related to Maggs’s careers in design and illustration, commercial photography, and fine art. Digitized content can be accessed through LAC’s website.
The Estate of Arnaud Maggs and Stephen Bulger Gallery manage records related to Maggs’s art practice. The Estate maintains a website: https://www.arnaudmaggs.com/ related to his artwork.
Key Exhibitions
Susan Hobbs Gallery opened in 1993 with Maggs on the roster. Maggs regularly premiered his new work on the large wall of the gallery, and Hobbs’s space was important to shaping the size and format of his projects. With the exception of his first solo exhibition in the space in 1994, however, these exhibitions are not listed below. A more comprehensive exhibition list can be found at https://www.arnaudmaggs.com/.
1971
Baby Pictures, Baldwin Street Gallery, Toronto.
1977
7 Canadian Photographers, National Film Board of Canada, Ottawa.
1978
64 Portrait Studies, David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto. Anna Leonowens Gallery, NSCAD (University), Halifax.
1979
The Winnipeg Perspective 1979—Photo/Extended Dimensions, Winnipeg Art Gallery. Exhibition catalogue.
Arnaud Maggs: Paris Contacts (showing Ledoyen Series), YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto.
1980
Arnaud Maggs Photographs, Centre cultural canadien, Paris. Exhibition catalogue.
1982
Persona, Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary. Exhibition catalogue.
1983
Seeing People, Seeing Space, the Photographers’ Gallery, London, U.K. Exhibition catalogue.
1984
Arnaud Maggs: An Exhibition of Selected Works, 1981–83, the Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver. Exhibition catalogue.
Responding to Photography, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Exhibition catalogue.
Evidence of the Avant-Garde Since 1957, Art Metropole, Toronto.
1984–86
Arnaud Maggs: Photographs 1975–1984, Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary. Winnipeg Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Hamilton. Exhibition catalogue.
1985
Identités, Centre national de la photographie, Paris. Exhibition catalogue.
1987
Art on Billboards, Olympic Arts Festival, Calgary.
1989
Arnaud Maggs Numberworks, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph.
Joseph Beuys, 100 Frontal Views, Stux Gallery, New York.
1990
Numbering, Art Gallery of Hamilton. Exhibition catalogue.
1992
Hotel, Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver; Cold City Gallery, Toronto.
Beau, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa. Mois de la Photo, Paris, France, and Canada House, London, England. Exhibition catalogue.
Special Collections: The Photographic Order from Pop to Now, International Center for Photography Midtown, New York. This group exhibition travelled to several venues across the United States, as well as to Fondation Deutsch in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Vancouver Art Gallery. Exhibition catalogue.
1994
Travail des enfants dans l’industrie, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto.
1996
Type Culture, Design Exchange, Toronto.
Double vie, double vue, Fondation Cartier, Paris. Exhibition catalogue.
1998
Picturing the Toronto Art Community: The Queen Street Years, The Power Plant, Toronto.
1999
Arnaud Maggs: Works 1976–1999, The Power Plant, Toronto. Exhibition catalogue.
2000
Notes Capitales, Centre culturel canadien, Paris, France. Exhibition catalogue.
The Bigger Picture: Contemporary Photography Reconsidered, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
2001
Mémoire et archive. Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
2004
Confluence, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa. Exhibition catalogue.
2006–8
Arnaud Maggs: Nomenclature, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, and McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton. Exhibition catalogue. Travelled to Gallery One One One, Winnipeg, and Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
2009
Beautiful Fictions: Photography at the AGO, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
2010
Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965 to 1980, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (Hart House, University of Toronto), Art Museum University of Toronto, Blackwood Gallery (University of Toronto, Mississauga), and Doris McCarthy Gallery (University of Toronto, Scarborough), September 11–November 28, 2010; Anna Leonowens Gallery (NSCAD University), Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, March 18–May 8, 2011; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, June 25–September 18, 2011; Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery (Concordia University), Montreal, Part 1, January 13–February 25, 2012, Part 2, March 16–April 28, 2012; Vancouver Art Gallery, September 29, 2012–January 20, 2013; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, April 1–June 30, 2013. Exhibition catalogue.
2012
Arnaud Maggs: Identification, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Exhibition catalogue.
2013
Arnaud Maggs, Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto.
Light My Fire: Some Propositions about Portraits and Photography, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Performance Propositions, Grand Palais, Paris.
2016
Tributes & Tributaries, 1971–1989, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
2018
The Extended Moment: Fifty Years of Collecting Photographs, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Exhibition catalogue.
2020
Metamorphosis: Contemporary Canadian Portraits, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, with Library and Archives Canada.
Selected Artist Projects
67 Artists’ Statements. Poster. Toronto: Self-published, 1992.
“Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours by Arnaud Maggs.” Portfolio. Prefix Photo 12, vol. 6, no. 12 (November 2005).
Audio
Maggs, Arnaud. “Arnaud Maggs: Kodak Lecture.” Lecture. Kodak Lecture Series, Ryerson University. February 11, 1994.
Film and Video
Connolly, Marcia, and Katherine Knight, dirs. Spring & Arnaud. Mississauga, ON: McNabb Connolly, 2013.
Mangaard, Annette, dir. The Many Faces of Arnaud Maggs. Toronto: Three Blondes, Inc.; Vancouver: Moving Images Distribution, 2002.
“Sophie Hackett on Arnaud Maggs’ ‘After Nadar.’” YouTube video, 2:52. Art Gallery of Ontario, November 8, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lisFcz6JjSU.
Selected Publications Illustrated by Maggs
Bessette, Gerard. Not for Every Eye. Translated by Glen Shortliffe. Toronto: MacMillan, 1962. Cover.
Canadian Art 13, no. 4 (Summer 1956). Cover.
Canadian Art XV, no. 2 (Spring 1958). Cover.
Hunter, J.A.H. Figurets: More Fun with Figures. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1958. Cover.
Imperial Oil Review 48, no. 4 (August 1964). Cover.
Nunny Bag: Stories for Young Canada. [Toronto]: W.J. Gage Limited, 1962.
Ross, Sinclair. The Well. Toronto: MacMillan, 1958. Cover.
Selected Critical Writings
Curators have contributed the bulk of the writing on Maggs, resulting in a number of careful examinations of both his artistic practice and specific works of art that contextualize his output and influences according to the history of photography. Arnaud Maggs: Identification provides the most exhaustive overview of Maggs’s art practice. Well illustrated, the exhibition catalogue comprises an essay by curator Josée Drouin-Brisebois, an interview with Maggs by Charles Stainback, and a chronology of his life, including his design and art careers, prepared by Rhiannon Vogl.
Allen, Karyn Elizabeth. Arnaud Maggs: Photographs, 1975–1984. Calgary: Nickle Arts Museum, 1984. Exhibition catalogue.
———. The Winnipeg Perspective, 1979—Photo/Extended Dimensions: Barbara Astman, Sorel Cohen, Suzy Lake, Arnaud Maggs, Ian Wallace. Winnipeg: The Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1979. Exhibition catalogue.
Bassnett, Sarah. “Archive and Affect in Contemporary Photography.” Photography & Culture 2, no. 3 (November 2009): 241–52.
Bean, Robert, ed. Image and Inscription: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Photography. Toronto: Gallery 44; YYZ Books, 2005.
Bédard, Catherine, and Russell Keziere. Arnaud Maggs: Notes Capitales. Paris: Services culturelles de l’Ambassade du Canada, 2000. Exhibition catalogue.
Campbell, James D. “A Photographer Frustrates Taxonomy: Arnaud Maggs.” In Depth Markers: Selected Art Writings, 1985–1994. Toronto: ECW Press, 1995.
Cibola, Anne. “Old Works/New Works: When Contemporary Photographic Artworks Held by Canadian Public Institutions Change after Accession.” Master’s thesis, Ryerson University, 2014.
Corkin, Jane, ed. Twelve Canadians: Contemporary Canadian Photography. Toronto: Jane Corkin Gallery; McClelland and Stewart, 1981. Exhibition catalogue.
Drouin-Brisebois, Josée, Charles A. Stainback, and Rhiannon Vogl. Arnaud Maggs: Identification. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2012. Exhibition catalogue.
Frizot, Michel, et al. Identités: de Disderi au photomaton. Paris: Centre national de la photographie/Éditions du Chêne, 1985. Exhibition catalogue.
Holubizky, Ihor. Numbering. Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1990. Exhibition catalogue.
Jansma, Linda, and Martha Langford. Arnaud Maggs: Nomenclature. Oshawa: Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue.
Jenker, Ingrid. Arnaud Maggs Numberworks. Guelph: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 1989. Exhibition catalogue.
Langford, Martha. Beau: A Reflection on the Nature of Beauty in Photography. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, 1992. Exhibition catalogue.
———. Scissors, Paper, Stone: Expressions of Memory in Contemporary Photographic Art. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007.
Langford, Martha, ed. Contemporary Canadian Photography from the Collection of the National Film Board. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1984.
Lindberg, E. Theodore. Arnaud Maggs: An Exhibition of Selected Works, 1981–83. Vancouver: The Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr College of Art and Design, 1984. Exhibition catalogue.
Maggs, Arnaud, and Bruce Ferguson. “Hotel” [essay]. Toronto: Art Metropole; Vancouver: Presentation House, 1993. Designed by Ed Cleary.
Mitchell, Michael. “Abracadabra.” Canadian Art 27, no. 3 (2010): 140–44.
Monk, Philip. “Elegiac Pantomime: Arnaud Maggs After Nadar.” Canadian Art (Spring 2014): 84–89.
Monk, Philip, and Maia-Mari Sutnik. Arnaud Maggs: Works 1976–1999. Toronto: Power Plant, 1999. Exhibition catalogue.
Popescu, Doina, Maia-Mari Sutnik, and Sophie Hackett. Arnaud Maggs. Göttingen: Steidl, Scotiabank, 2013. Exhibition catalogue.
Stainback, Charles. Special Collections: The Photographic Order from Pop to Now. New York: International Center of Photography, 1992.
Tombs, Robert. “Arnaud Maggs: Back to Ink.” The Devil’s Artisan 65 (Fall/Winter 2009): 73–85.
Key Interviews
Enright, Robert. “Designs on Life: An Interview with Arnaud Maggs.” Border Crossings 31, no. 2 (June–August, 2012): 40–57.
Fisher-Taylor, Gail. “An Interview with Arnaud Maggs.” Photo Communique (Fall 1982): 9–17.
Portis, Ben. “Evidence of Existence: A Conversation with Toronto-based Photographer Arnaud Maggs.” Art on Paper (May/June 2008): 62–71.
Stainback, Charles A. “Q and A with Arnaud Maggs.” In Arnaud Maggs: Identification, Josée Drouin-Brisebois, 111–115. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2012. Exhibition catalogue.
Further Reading
Arnold, Grant, and Karen Henry, eds. Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965–1980. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2012. Exhibition catalogue.
Canadian Art, Special Issue on Graphic Design, 17, no. 3 (May 1960).
Dair, Carl. Design with Type. New York: Pellegrini & Cudahy, 1952.
———. “New Patterns in Canadian Advertising.” Canadian Art 9, no. 4 (Summer 1952): 152–73.
Krauss, Rosalind. “Grids.” October 9 (July 1979): 51–64.
Kunard, Andrea. Photography in Canada, 1960 to 2000. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2017. Exhibition catalogue.
Langford, Martha. “A Short History of Photography, 1900–2000.” In The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century, edited by Anne Whitelaw, Brian Foss, and Sandra Paikowsky, 278–311. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Reeves, John. About Face. Toronto: Exile Editions, 1990.
Sutnik, Maia-Mari. Responding to Photography. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1984. Exhibition catalogue.
Thomas, Ann, John McElhone, and Marc Mayer. The Extended Moment: Fifty Years of Collecting Photographs at the National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2018.
“Visual Communication in Canada.” With a foreword by Arnold Rockman. IDEA 41, no. 6 (June 1961).
Wark, Jayne. “Conceptual Art in Canada: Capitals, Peripheries, and Capitalism.” In The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century, edited by Anne Whitelaw, Brian Foss, and Sandra Paikowsky, 330–47. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2010.
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