Catalogue of Pictures by Glasgow Painters, a slim paper pamphlet, co-published in 1906 by the Toronto Art Museum (AGO as was, also known as Art Museum of Toronto) and the Ontario Society of Artists, marked the beginning of the AGO’s rich publishing history. Since then, the AGO has gone on to release more than 800 exhibition catalogues, collection books, and artists’ books. 

“Art book publishing is,” says Jim Shedden, the AGO’s Director of Publishing, “both a noble contribution, a way of distilling ideas and images in a package that will outlive the run of an exhibition, and an art form in and of itself, incorporating as it does design, text and image. We’ve been very fortunate to work with some of the most accomplished artists, curators, editors and book designers from across North America. In 2025, the AGO is publishing five catalogues, among them Joyce Wieland: Heart On, Jesse Mockrin: Echo, and Collective States: Worlds of Photography at the AGO – all beautiful and important objects.”

To celebrate this rich history, Foyer took a trip to the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives and to the Internet Archive, to explore highlights from the AGO's publishing history.  These publications are all available in the Library & Archives. Visitors can drop in to the Library & Archives on Wednesdays from 1 pm to 5 pm or make an appointment to visit on Thursdays and Fridays.

Most travelled: Anthropocene, 2019

Chronicling the massive and irreversible impact of humans on the Earth on a geological scale, Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal, and Nick de Pencier led the Anthropocene Project. Since its debut in 2019, that exhibition, and its accompanying publications, have traveled to five continents. Published in tandem with the exhibition, and edited by Sophie Hackett, Andrea Kunard, and Urs Stahel, this 256-page hardcover catalogue, features texts by the curators, Colin Waters & Jan Zalasiewicz, Karla McManus, and Andrea Kunard, and accompanies the film and exhibition inspired by it. 

Most literal: Art & Engineering, 1965

Published in tandem with an exhibition of the same title, presented by the AGO and the Association of Professional Engineers of the Province of Ontario, this 30-page volume, despite its fun abstract cover, is strictly business. Featuring a selection of artists from the AGO collection commenting on how engineering has influenced their work, the catalogue juxtaposes images of their artworks with photos of similar looking buildings, bridges, and ( as seen above) in Ray Kiyooka’s case, a test tube from the British American Chemical Oil Company Limited. 

Most ambitious: The Michael Snow Project: 1951-1994 

Totaling more than 1500 pages, the Michael Snow Project, was a four-volume set published in 1994. Produced in tandem with a city-wide career retrospective, each volume is dedicated to a different medium, capturing in one place, a detailed portrait of his work in visual art, music and film. The AGO’s most ambitious publishing project to date, it featured 16 contributors, and over 300 illustrations, and remains the definitive guide to Snow’s artistic career. 

Most popular: Guillermo Del Toro: At Home with Monsters, 2017

Translated into French and Japanese, this152 page hardcover catalogue was co-published by the AGO, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Minneaplis Institute of Art, and Insight Editions, in tandem with the 2017 exhibition. More than 50,000 copies are thought to be in circulation, and line ups for the book signing, held on September 27, 2017 in Walker Court, stretched down Dundas St, keeping the museum open well past midnight. 

Longest in print: Black Ice: David Blackwood Prints of Newfoundland

Originally co-published in 2011 by the AGO and Douglas and McIntyre,  Black Ice: David Blackwood Prints of Newfoundland was edited by AGO Senior Curator Emeritus Katherine Lochnan and accompanied the acclaimed exhibition. It has remained in print ever since, now in a partnership with Goose Lane Editions.  It returns to shopAGO shelves this October, to welcome the AGO’s newest Blackwood exhibition and publication,  David Blackwood: Myth & Legend. 

In celebration of the AGO’s 125th anniversary, Foyer is highlighting foundational moments in the Gallery’s history that have helped make the AGO the institution it is today. Stay tuned for more Foyer stories and public events celebrating this milestone.