Fonds consists of photographs which depict Hutterites in Canada; photographs of the Second World War, 1944-1945; locations and events in Canada and from around the world; Taconis' work from 1959 to 1978 for the Star Weekly; the Polar Gas Tour album; landscapes and scenes from various assignments; and several of Kryn Taconis' photo assignments while he was a member of Magnum Photo Inc.
Fonds also consists of thirteen letters from Taconis to his wife Tess, n.d., 24 July to 20 August 1957, from Cairo and Tunis, while on assignment to cover the Front de libération in Algeria. Also included are various correspondence and miscellaneous textual material dated from pre-1950's to 1978. Twelve containers of both magazine tear sheets and large exhibition prints can be found as well.
Also included is a film entitled Celebration, 1966.
Taconis, Kryn, 1918-1979 : Kryn Taconis, photojournalist, was born in 1918 at Rotterdam, Holland, and devoted his life to photojournalism. He produced his first photographs for the Dutch Resistance during World War II. From 1948 to 1950 he was an independent photographer and Time-Life correspondent for the Benelux countries. In 1950, he became a member of Magnum, founded to disseminate the work of photojournalists. In August 1957, Taconis went to Algeria and clandestinely photographed the activities of the Front de libération nationale (F.L.N.). These photographs remained unpublished until their appearance in Photo Communiqué, 1982.
Taconis left Europe and he and his wife Tess immigrated to Toronto in 1959. He left Magnum in 1960. In Canada, he became a special contributor to major Canadian magazines especially Star Weekly, Chatelaine and Maclean's. He also worked for the National Film Board for three years. Among his best known Canadian works is a photo essay of Hutterite communities in the West.
Works located in: Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography; National Archives of Canada: 1975-114, 1976-248, 1980-068, 1980-220; National Film Board of Canada Stills Division, EX-68-11.
Exhibition(s): 1979, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (group). 1984, Contemporary Canadian Photography, National Film Board of Canada. 1989, Kryn Taconis, Photojournalist, PAC, Ottawa (individual).
See also: The Canadian Encyclopedia.
