Into the Wosk Collection: Discovery & Wonder is a title that barely scratches the surface of the impact and passion of the collector at its heart.
From Matisse to Ansel Adams, the display opening at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria this month takes a tour through Wosk’s remarkable collection of photographs, prints, and etchings
Dr. Josef Wosk is a prominent Canadian multidisciplinary scholar, rabbi, philanthropist, art collector, and community activist based in Vancouver whose interests span from books, manuscripts, photographs, prints, paintings, sculptures, and furniture to a variety of cultural objects.
This collection is co-curated by artist Adad Hannah and Audain Art Museum’s chief curators Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky and Kiriko Watanabe, with support from collection advisor and art historian Spencer W. Stuart.
Highlights include portraits by internationally renowned photographers Naomi Savage, Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and Anne Brigman. Portraiture is a notable strength in the collection, as exemplified by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph of Henri Matisse with doves, Diego Rivera’s photograph of Frida Kahlo and Emmy Lou Packard, Alexander Liberman’s image of Marcel Duchamp’s hands playing chess, and Man Ray’s close portrait of Ernest Hemingway.
Still life images by Edward Weston and Walker Evans, Brassai’s Chartres in Winter, Berenice Abbott’s New York at Night, Ansel Adams’s Half Dome and Moon, and Fred Herzog’s black-and-white photographs further illustrate the breadth and depth of Wosk’s photographic holdings.
The exhibition also includes etchings by Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, and Rembrandt van Rijn; lithographs by Marc Chagall and Odilon Redon; and several pochoir prints from a well-preserved edition of Henri Matisse’s Jazz suite.
Into the Wosk Collection: Discovery & Wonder runs at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Nov. 7 through April 25, 2027.