A retrospective of Phil Bergerson’s career. The first section’s, extensive essay addresses his student days, early teaching and organizing years and his various photographic projects (1967-1989). The second part deals with Bergerson’s pursuit of the human condition found within the American Social landscape. It begins with an historically contextualizing essay, followed by a sequence created from selections from Bergerson’s first two books on America. This is followed by Bergerson’s most recent photographs accompanied by a critical essay.

Phil Bergerson's profile page

Don Snyder's profile page

Peter Higdon's profile page

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 andAsia. His last book was American Artifacts (2014), with introductory essays by Margaret Atwood and Nathan Lyons. Bergerson's 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 University's 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 Gallery's 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 of Function, the School's annual publication of student work, essays and interviews. Between 2005 and 2010, he served as the Chair of Ryerson's School of Image Arts. He also taught in Ryerson's 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 yieldedmuseum-standard exhibition spaces and a research centre incorporating a print storage vault. He was also instrumental in the RIC's 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 Ryerson's collection managements program, (FPPCM), and for over 20 years was the Coordinator of Ryerson's Photography Workshop in France. Upon retirement in 2014, the RIC's Research Centre was named in his honour, and an annual graduate scholarship established in his name.

“Bergerson’s 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 Eugène Atget, Unknown Paris

Writers who understand the role of ‘visual thinking’ have been drawn to Bergerson’s work.

After examining Bergerson’s 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 60’s and 70’s 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 70’s and 80’s as a

teacher/organizer who brought many of the most important photographers of the twentieth

century to speak at Ryerson, includingKertész, 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 theoreticalterritory. 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)