Arnaud Maggs

Internationally acclaimed photographer Arnaud Maggs is best known for detailed, grid-like portrait studies that betray a stark intimacy. These include 64 Portrait Studies, the Ledoyen Series and 48 Views, a series that included such Canadian notables as Northrop Frye, Irving Layton, Yousuf Karsh and Leonard Cohen. At the age of 47, Maggs decided to become a visual artist and abandoned his early career as a successful graphic designer and fashion photographer. His work touches on questions of mortality, focusing on such things as death notices and tags documenting child labour in French textile factories. Maggs has exhibited widely: recent solo exhibitions include Joseph Beuys, 100 Profile Views (Art Gallery of Hamilton) and Orford String Quartet (Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston). His work is found in many collections across Canada. He has won such prizes as the Gershon Iskowitz Prize and the Canada Council’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award. Born in Montreal in 1926, Maggs currently makes his home in Toronto.

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