About —
To mark Gabor Szilasi’s 81st birthday, the Musée d’art de Joliette, in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, presents the The Eloquence of the Everyday, an important retrospective of the work of the Hungarian-born Quebec artist. Structured around three themes – Hungary, rural Quebec and Montreal – the exhibition brings together 124 photographs culled from diverse private and public collections. These emblematic images – some of which have never before been shown – include urban landscapes, architectural views and environmental portraits testifying to Szilasi’s indefatigable faith in the innately humanistic and documentary qualities of photography.
With his remarkable images of Quebec and Europe, Gabor Szilasi has produced, over the last fifty years, one of the most significant bodies of photographic work in Canada. Thanks to a European point of view Szilasi has highlighted the specificities of the communities he photographed, creating touching documents that act as witness to the singular character of Hungarian and Quebecois societies of the latter half of the 20th century.
Curated by David Harris, Associate Professor at the School of Image Arts at Ryerson University and guest curator at the Musée d’art de Joliette, this exhibition, realized in partnership with the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, will tour both in Canada and abroad as of September 2009. In collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada, an important catalogue was launched at the Musée d’art de Joliette on May 24, 2009.
Biography —
Gabor Szilasi has influenced generations of photographers not only through his work, which has been exhibited throughout Canada and abroad, but also through his teaching, notably in the photography department of Concordia University. Now retired from teaching, Gabor Szilasi continues to live and work as a photographer in Montreal.