Throughout his long career, Sorel Etrog participated in exhibitions around the world while maintaining his base in Canada from the early 1960s until his death in 2014. The literature around his art is extensive and varied, consisting of monographs by world-renowned art historians and critics, exhibition catalogues from prestigious national and international institutions, as well as numerous articles and reviews by leading writers. Etrog was himself a talented and prolific writer of both creative work and interpretive texts regarding his own work.
Key Exhibitions
1958
Etrog Oil Paintings in Relief, Watercolors and Drawings, ZOA House, Tel Aviv, Israel. Exhibition publication.
1959
Etrog: Painting on Wood / Sculptures / Drawings, Gallery Moos, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
1963
Sorel Etrog: Sculpture, Rose Fried Gallery, New York. Exhibition publication.
Fifteen Canadian Artists, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
1965
Etrog. Gallery Moos, Toronto; Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles; Galerie Dresdnère, Montreal, and Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York. Exhibition publication.
1966
Canadian Pavilion (with Yves Gaucher and Alex Colville) at the 23rd Biennale di Venezia, Venice. Exhibition publication.
1967
Architecture and Sculpture in Canada, Canadian Government Pavilion, Expo 67, Montreal.
Sculpture ’67, An Open-Air Exhibition of Canadian Sculpture Presented by the National Gallery of Canada as Part of Its Centennial Program, City Hall, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
1968
Sorel Etrog, 1958–1968, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 1968. Exhibition publication.
(Through December 1969) Sorel Etrog: One Decade. A travelling exhibition in Ontario, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (Scarborough College, Toronto; London Public Library and Art Museum; Rothmans Art Gallery, Stratford; McMaster University, Hamilton; Rodman Hall, St. Catharines; University of Guelph; Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, Brantford; Waterloo Lutheran University; Art Gallery of Oshawa). Exhibition publication.
1971
IV Exposition internationale de sculpture contemporaine, Musée Rodin, Paris.
Artists at Dartmouth: A Retrospective of Selected Artists in Residence at Dartmouth College since 1962, New City Hall, Boston.
1973
Art 4 ’73: Basel. Internazionale Kunstmesse, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland.
1977
Sorel Etrog: Recent Works, Marlborough Godard, Toronto; Galerie Mira Godard, Montreal; Marlborough Gallery, New York.
1978
L’oiseau qui n’existe pas, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
1993
The Modernists: 20th Century Sculpture from Auguste Rodin to Anthony Caro, Koffler Gallery, Toronto.
1996
The Cult of the Head: Sculptures by Sorel Etrog, Singapore Art Museum. Exhibition publication.
Shape Shifters, Art Gallery of Hamilton. Exhibition publication.
1999
Word and Image: Samuel Beckett and the Visual Text, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
2000
Sorel Etrog, Composites, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
2008
The Links: Meditations on the Human Condition, Simon Fraser University Gallery and Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver. Exhibition publication.
2013
Sorel Etrog: Five Decades, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
2016
The Sorel Etrog Collection at the Hennick Family Wellness Gallery, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. Exhibition publication for gallery opening.
Selected Writings and Artist Books by Etrog
In addition to his creative work as sculptor, painter, draftsman, and more, Etrog wrote a range of experimental texts, including plays, poetry, and short stories, as well as the artist’s books on which he collaborated with noted thinkers and writers.
With Claude Aveline. “L’oiseau qui n’existe pas,” Venice: Edition del Cavallino, 1967.
“Links,” Art International 12, no. 9, 1968.
With Eugene Ionesco. Chocs. New York: Martha Jackson Gallery, 1969.
“Dream Chamber: Joyce and the Dada Circus, a Collage,” in Robert O’Driscoll, ed. Dream Chamber: Joyce and the Dada Circus, a Collage by Sorel Etrog. About Roaratorio: an Irish Circus on Finnegans Wake by John Cage, Toronto: Black Brick Press; Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1982.
With Samuel, Beckett. Imagination Dead Imagine. London: John Calder Publishers, 1982.
“Hinges: A Play,” New Writing and Writers 20, in John Calder, ed. London: John Calder Publishers; New York: Riverrun Press, 1983.
The Kite / Le Cerf-Volant, introduction by Robert O’Driscoll, text by Martin Esslin, in Sorel Etrog, The Kite / Le Cerf-Volant. London: John Calder Publishers, 1984.
Images from the film Spiral. Text by Marshall McLuhan. Toronto: Exile Editions, 1987.
Selected Critical Writings on Etrog’s Work
Dault, Gary Michael. Foreword to Sorel Etrog, Composites. Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, 2000.
Ionesco, Eugène. Foreword to Etrog. London: Hanover Gallery, 1970.
Grohmann, Will. Foreword to Sorel Etrog. Berlin: Galerie Springer, 1967.
Hale, Barrie. “Etrog International,” Telegram (Toronto), December 19, 1964.
Heinrich, Theodore Allen. The Painted Constructions 1952–1960 of Sorel Etrog. Berne, Germany: Staempfli & Cie, 1968.
Heinrich, Theodore Allen. Introduction to Etrog, Toronto: Gallery Moos; Los Angeles: Felix Landau Gallery; Montreal: Galerie Dresdnère, 1965. Exhibition catalogue.
Holubizky, Ihor, ed., Sorel Etrog: Five Decades, Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2013. Exhibition catalogue.
Lord, Barry, and Bridget Tan. Essays for The Cult of the Head: Sculptures by Sorel Etrog. Singapore Art Museum, 1997.
McLuhan, Marshall. Introduction to Sorel Etrog: Recent Works. Toronto: Marlborough Godard; Montreal: La Galerie Mira Godard; New York: Marlborough Gallery, 1977.
McPherson, Hugo. “The Scope of Sculpture in ’64,” Canadian Art 21, no. 4 (Issue 92) (July/August 1964): 224–35.
Restany, Pierre. Sorel Etrog. Munich, London and New York: Prestel, 2001.
Withrow, William, “Sorel Etrog: Sculpting Is an Exploration,” Canadian Art 22 (May/June 1965): 20–24.
Withrow, William J. Sorel Etrog: Sculpture. Toronto: Wilfeld Publishing, 1967.
Zemans, Joyce. “On the Bodifestation of Etrog’s ‘The Kite,’” Art Post 2, no. 1 (June/July 1984): 18–19.
Zemans, Joyce. “Sorel Etrog: Past Tense,” Canadian Art 17, no. 4 (Winter 2000): 82–83.
Archives
Sorel Etrog Fonds, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
The Sorel Etrog fonds at the Art Gallery of Ontario is an indispensable source for Etrog scholars. The archive consists of records of the artist’s personal life and professional career, including but not limited to photographs of the artist and his art, press clippings, invitations, and exhibition catalogues, correspondence with important figures of his times, information regarding exhibitions and acquisitions by individuals and museums, and administrative records related to various of the artist’s projects and collaborations. It also includes many preliminary drawings and works on paper as well as some preparatory maquettes for sculptures.
The Estate of Sorel Etrog
Key Interviews and Conversations
Sorel Etrog was interviewed in 2013, in conjunction with his AGO retrospective http://www.soreletrog.com/interview-with-sorel-etrog
“A Dialogue between Sorel Etrog and Marshall McLuhan Regarding Spiral,” in David Moos, Sorel Etrog: Human Traces (Oakville, ON; Buffalo, NY: Mosaic Press, n.d.), 65–71 (unpublished).
Audio and Visual
For the 2013 Etrog retrospective at the AGO, a series of interviews with key people in Etrog’s life and career were conducted.
Gary Michael Dault interview: http://www.soreletrog.com/gary-michael-dault-on-sorel-etrog
Yael Dunkelman interview: http://www.soreletrog.com/yael-dunkelman-on-sorel-etrog
Gregory Humeniuk interview: http://www.ago.net/interviews#greg
Walter Moos interview: http://www.soreletrog.com/walter-moos-on-sorel-etrog
Joyce Zemans interview: http://www.soreletrog.com/joyce-zemans-on-sorel-etrog
About the Author
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Acknowledgements