Series consists of negatives and prints documenting Canadian visual and literary artists and writers from across Canada. Photos were taken primarily in Canada with the exception of series taken in conjunction with the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, France.
Toronto photographer Walter Curtin began photographing Canadian artists early in his career, working as a still photographer for the National Film Board in 1953. His work with the National Film Board led to subsequent projects and commissions for a variety of North American publications including Liberty Magazine, Maclean's, Time, and Canadian Home Journal, completed between 1954 and 1978. Artists and wrtiters represented in this series include June Callwood, A.Y. Jackson at the Art Gallery of Ontario, George Crumb, Greg Curnoe, Yousuf Karsh and Family, Robertson Davies, Mollie Gillen, Norman Creighton, Morley Callaghan, and Pierre Berton. Important events including the Canadian Artists Exhibition in 1968 are also represented in this series.
Between 1982 and 1990, Curtin continued to photograph Canadian artists and writers in conjunction with his extensive project to document the classical music scene in Canada. This series contains sheets of negatives and contact sheets numbered YZ1 to YZ84, providing a unique representation of the personalities in the world of visual and literary arts in Canada. Artists represented in this series include: Roger Savage, Donald Pentz, Ken Tolmie, Alex Colville, Tom Forrestall, Robert Phinney, Ernest Buckler, Jack Wise, Gordon Brown, Ann Kipling, Leonard Epp, Nina Raginsky, James Fenwick Lansdowne, Jack Wilkinson, Myfawnwy Spencer Pavelic, Herbert Sibbner, Elza Mayhew, LeRoy Jensen, Nita Forrest, Robin Skelton, E.J. Hughes, H. George Glyde, Margaret Toulmin, Allan Harrison, Joe Plaskett, Louis Gosselin, Lynn Seymour, Leonard Oesterle, Robert Dick, Mavis Gallant, Jim Ritchie, Morden Yolles, and Michael Ignatieff.
