Phil Bergerson: A Retrospective

(Hardback)

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A Retrospective is a series of photographs that show the dynamic life of a maturing artist as student of the 60's, then teacher, organizer and photographer culminating in his insightful sequences about American culture.

Reviews

Bergersons work over the past 25 years assumes the form of a sweeping topographical survey, mirroring his peripatetic wanderings, and encapsulating his distinctive way of merging the roles of documentary photographer and cultural commentator in his images. Bergerson finds his material amid the melancholic detritus of the urban fabric: in modest store window displays, hand-painted murals, graffiti, and crudely made signs. A chaotic urban landscape emerges, one engendered by unmoored dreams, raw desires, simmering fears, commercial fantasies, rampant patriotism, and a smouldering violence. David Harris, Independent Curator, Photography Historian and Professor Emeritus, Ryerson University, author of Eugne Atget, Unknown Paris Writers who understand the role of visual thinking have been drawn to Bergersons work. After examining Bergersons first book on America, Annie Proulx wrote: If I were teaching short story writing the only textbook I would assign would be your collection of photographs. Annie Proulx, author of The Shipping News The 60s and 70s were important revolutionary times for contemporary photography and Bergerson was there in the thick of it. First by meeting many of those involved in Rochester while he was still a student at Ryerson and later through the 70s and 80s as a teacher/organizer who brought many of the most important photographers of the twentieth century to speak at Ryerson, including Kertsz, Robert Frank, Eugene Smith, Friedlander, Frederick Sommer, and historians Gernsheim and Szarkowski. He is also a photographer with a vision, a particular, intriguing view of the world, an ability to see beyond the obvious and craft the graphic nature of his photographs into well-constructed statements. Jerry Uelsmann, Photographer, Professor Emeritus, University of Florida Over the decades, many of the international lecturers Bergerson invited to speak presented unique lectures. "Phil was the first person to ask me to lecture on my relationship to and use of photography". Michael Snow, Artist Suffocating from the fumes of critical theory is a terrible death to die, but unlike drowning, it can go on for hours. Joel Snyder 1983 at the Symposium on Photographic Theory, Ryerson University In 1983, Bergerson organized the Symposium on Photographic Theory where tensions arose that thrilled the audience when each speaker staked out his theoretical territory. The encounters over those two days stimulated lively discussions that carried for decades as the participants continued to feed our ongoing interest in photographic theory. Marta Braun, Photography Historian, Professor, Ryerson University, author of PicturingTime: The Work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904)

Author Bio

Phil Bergerson has photographed for over 50 years. His work has been exhibited internationally and is found in many prestigious collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, the Shadai Gallery, Tokyo Japan, the Harry Ransom Center, Austin Texas, and the Creative Center for Photography, Tucson, Arizona. His photographs have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Toronto Life and Walrus Magazine, and his book, Shards of America was published in September 2004 to rave reviews. Since 1972, Bergerson has been a Professor of Photography at Ryerson University in Toronto where he established and organized the influential, International Kodak Lecture Series on photography. He also organized the first International Symposium on Photographic Theory as well as Canadian Perspectives, a National Conference on Photography in Canada. Throughout his career, he also arranged several group photographic study trips to Europe and Asia. His last book was American Artifacts (2014), with introductory essays by Margaret Atwood and Nathan Lyons. Bergersons entire personal archive has just been acquired by the Library and Archive Canada, in Ottawa. Now Professor Emeritus, he continues to work on Representations of American Cultural Artifacts. He is represented In North America by the Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto. Don Snyder studied photography with Walker Evans at Yale University and with Minor White in the graduate program at MIT. Before joining Ryerson Universitys faculty, he held an appointment as the first Curator of Photography at the Addison Gallery of American Art in the US, where he established the Gallerys photography exhibition program. He has written on photographic history and criticism for a number of periodicals, has edited four books and curated more than sixty exhibitions in Canada and the US, and has held appointments at SUNY Buffalo and Bennington College. At Ryerson, he established the Ryerson Gallery at 80 Spadina, an exhibition space in the downtown arts district, and was instrumental in the founding ofFunction,the Schools annual publication of student work, essays and interviews. Between 2005 and 2010, he served as the Chair of Ryersons School of Image Arts. He also taught in Ryersons graduate programs in Communication and Culture, Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, and the Documentary Media MFA program. Peter Higdon studied photography with David Heath and Art History with Ian Wallace. He is the Founding Collections Curator of the Ryerson Image Centre, (RIC), Ryerson University, Toronto. Over a period of thirty-six years, he drove the expansion of its photographs collection through numerous acquisitions, among them the Black Star Collection of photojournalism (292,000 prints). Funding accompanying this major donation allowed commencement of a long- sought building project that yielded museum-standard exhibition spaces and a research centre incorporating a print storage vault. He was also instrumental in the RICs acquisition of the Berenice Abbott Archive. While building the collection, his work with the Department of Canadian Heritage required extensive written contextual justification and many detailed artist biographies. For 10 years, he was consultant to the graduate students in Ryersons collection managements program, (FPPCM), and for over 20 years was the Coordinator of Ryersons Photography Workshop in France. Upon retirement in 2014, the RICs Research Centre was named in his honour, and an annual graduate scholarship established in his name. Robert Burley is an artist working in photo-based media whose practice explores the built environment, history and visual studies. His past projects have received widespread recognition through numerous grants, awards and media coverage. Burleys works have been exhibited around the globe and can be found in museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Muse de lElyse, George Eastman Museum, Muse des beaux-arts de Montral and Muse Niepce. His recent books include:The Disappearance of Darkness (Princeton Architectural Press 2012)andAn Enduring Wilderness (ECW Press 2017).Burley has lectured about his photographic projects through the Rouse Visiting Artist Program at Harvard University and the Senior Mellon Fellowship Program at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. In addition to his activities as an artist, Burley has undertaken many initiatives as an educator with the goal of expanding resources and curricula at Ryerson University where has currently holds the position of Professor in the School of Image Arts. These include his role as founding Program Director of the MA program in Film & Photographic Preservation, his work to establish and expand collections in The Ryerson Image Centre and Special Collections Ryerson Library, and the management of numerous cultural programs such the Kodak Lectures and The Ryerson Gallery.