Various Artists

In 1965, the Art Gallery of Toronto sponsored the production of this unprecedented folio of prints by a group of artists who punctuate a generation of Canadian art making.  The Toronto 20 portfolio provides a rare opportunity to observe the intesection of these artistic forces on a collective call to action.  The folio contains eighteen of the original twenty pieces including work by William Kurelek, Gerald Gladstone, Robert Markle, Gordon Rayner, Jack Bush, Maschel Teitelbaum, Sorel Etrog, Kazuo Nakamura, Graham Coughtry, Dennis Burton, Michael Snow, Les Levine, Waltraud Markgraf, William Ronald, Tony Urquart, Greg Curnoe, Richard Gorman and Joyce Weiland.  It is comprised of works by artists for whom Toronto, in one way or another, framed the focus of their success.

Although all works in this collection are equally engaging, the stylistic diversities between these prints are as varied as the artists who made them ranging from Jack Bush's highly chromatic tri-colour band to Sorel Etrog's elegantly simple embossed work; from Graham Coughtry's energetic gestural forms to Michael Snow's iconic walking woman.  Though there may be no immediately recognizable Toronto style, this portfolio asserts the existence of a Toronto School.  Like the city it celebrates, the Toronto 20 portfolio transcends uniformity, united instead through its vibrant diversity.

Of the 18 prints included in this lot, only works by the following artists are framed: William Kurelek, Gerald Gladstone, Robert Markle and Gordon Rayner.