This illustrated talk will explore different facets of the photographic portrait, its significance through the history of photography and its enduring fascination, adding context to the concurrent exhibitions Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Condé Nast Years 1923-1937 (at the Art Gallery of Ontario), and Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008 (at the Royal Ontario Museum).

Panelists include Lilly Koltun, photography historian, noted photographer Nigel Dickson, and gallery owner Jane Corkin. Moderated by Sophie Hackett, AGO Assistant Curator of Photography, and Francisco Alvarez, Managing Director of the Institute for Contemporary Culture at the ROM.

Admission is free, and is on a first come, first serve basis. Please enter through President's Choice Group Entrance, located at the south end of the Museum.

This is a co-presentation by the Institute for Contemporary Culture and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Biographies of Panelists and Moderators

Lilly Koltun
Dr. Lilly Koltun has worked in a variety of areas connected with her expertise in the history of art. Her career spans roles as Director of the Documentary Art and Photography Division of the National Archives of Canada, heading a collection of some 200,000 works of art and 15 million photographs, and Director General of the Portrait Gallery of Canada, a program of Library and Archives Canada. Dr. Koltun achieved an Honours B.A. in art history from the University of Toronto, an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London, England, and a PhD in art history from St. Andrews University, Scotland, where her thesis dealt with the history of Canadian photographic portraiture. She has authored many articles and publications and has frequently been invited to teach and to speak, in Canada, the United States and numerous other countries, on topics relating to the history, interpretation and management of art, photography and visual materials, including film and new media.

Nigel Dickson -
Nigel Dickson is an international award-winning photographer whose work has been published over the past thirty years in numerous magazines, from Saturday Night to Esquire, Fortune, Newsweek and Rolling Stone. He has won 16 National Magazine Awards, the most awarded to any artist in the Visual Design category’s history; 25 Art & Design Club Canada Awards; two international ANDY Awards; the Les Usherwood Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Art & Design Club of Canada; and a handful of others in both Canada and the United States. Dickson currently lives in Toronto, Ontario with his wife and two children.

Jane Corkin -
Jane Corkin established the Jane Corkin Gallery in Toronto, 1979. Known internationally as a pioneer of contemporary and historic photography, Jane Corkin is an expert in her field of work. She began representing some of the most important photographers of the time, including Irving Penn, Robert Mapplethorpe, André Kertész, Sarah Moon. Her role was fundamental in establishing knowledge of the Bauhaus and Surrealism in photography in North America.
Today, at the Corkin Gallery, Jane Corkin continues working with both a new generation of contemporary artists of varied mediums, alongside well established photo-based artists. Her exhibitions defined by themes of consumerism, cultural commodity and the construction of identity. In addition to the contemporary program, the Corkin Gallery continues to show photography from both the 19th and 20th centuries. This juxtaposition demonstrates the ongoing dialogue between contemporary artists and their historical precedents, as well as the influence of photography into contemporary mediums.



Francisco Alvarez
Born in Bogota, Colombia and raised in Ottawa, Francisco Alvarez has lived in Toronto since 1974. He holds both B.F.A. and M.B.A. degrees from York University. Alvarez joined the ROM in 1999 as Media Relations Manager, served as Director of Communications from 2004 to 2008, and currently works as Managing Director of the Institute for Contemporary Culture. Prior to the ROM, he held communications and administrative positions in several cultural organizations, as well as the private sector (Alliance Broadcasting) and government (Ontario Ministries of Culture & Tourism, and Finance). Alvarez has a keen interest in all aspects of contemporary art and culture and has served on the Board of Directors of several arts organizations in Toronto.

Sophie Hackett
Sophie Hackett is the Assistant Curator of Photography at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Prior to this, as a writer and independent curator, she published writing in Lola, Saturday Night, Xtra!, C, Canadian Art and Prefix Photo. Hackett has curated five exhibitions independently, including The Found and the Familiar: Snapshots in Contemporary Canadian Art, co-curated with Jennifer Long (2002), Flash Forward (2005), and Wallpaper (2005). She completed an M.A. in Art History at the University of Chicago in 2004.