his writings, the more provocative for not being
conclusive. The rational and objectivist accounts
of his works by himself and others spare the reader
embarrassment, but for Snow there is something
finally mysterious about the framing edge, optical
bend, and the limits to vision. Microscopically
exact accounts of the seeing process can never
efface the possibility of the unseen. In this respect
the eye of the camera is exactly as mysterious as the
human eye both contending with ‘‘powerful forces
over which we have no control.’’
Snow returned to Toronto where he has lived
since in 1972. Snow is a vigilant and shrewd partici-
pant in the recording of his career, self-referential
and self-reflexive decades before these terms be-
came common currency. InCover to Cover(1976),
he simultaneously makes clear and puzzling a sim-
ple sequence of actions as the artist leaves his house
for his gallery and returns. It throws into doubt the
viewer’s position. The presence/absence of some-
one or something from the centre of the viewing
circle lies at the core of the manoeuvres of the
elaborate camera devised to filmLa Region Cen-
trale(1981–1982).
The 1970 bookMichael Snow/A Surveylooks at
who the artist is as much as what the artist does. It
demonstrates that he came early to the dogged
literalness that is one of the roots of his humour.
The book closes on a snapshot of Snow at seven
years old taken under his direction by his sister. In
this photo he is positioned in such a way that the
soles of his shoes appear gigantic–early visual cues
to the pedigree of lifelong preoccupations.
Introducing his collected writings is a photo-
graph taken by the artist’s left hand showing his
right hand in the act of writing. Its punning auto-
biographical conundrum that makes an object out
of, at least two subjects exemplifies Snow’s obser-
vation that people have two sides and that they
fold. Snow’s recurring theme of the embodied nat-
ure of perception anticipates the widespread atten-
tion to this theme by many other photographers in
the 1980s and ‘90s. Snow’s influence has been espe-
cially strong in shaping the work of some of the
best known and influential Canadian artists using
photography. Like Snow, Jeff Wall, Rodney Gra-
ham, Stan Douglas and Ken Lum push further at
the ways in which perceptual understanding is
shaped through the deployment of the camera.
In the 1980s Snow has experimented with holo-
graphy, including a group of 48 images titledThe
Spectral Imagefor Expo ‘86 in Vancouver, British
Columbia. A major retrospective of his work was
mounted at the Art Gallery of Ontario; Toronto,
Ontario which traveled across North America in
1994, introducing his work to a new generation.
CharlotteTownsend-Gault
Seealso: Conceptual Photography; Holography
Photographic Theory; Photographic ‘‘Truth’’; Photo-
graphy and Film and Video; Photography in Canada;
Wall, JeffBiography
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1929. Attended Ontario
College of Art, Toronto, Ontario, 1948–1952. Begins
association with Isaacs Gallery, Toronto; 1957, Poindex-
ter Gallery, New York, 1968. Professor of Advanced
Film, Yale University, 1970; Visiting Artist, Nova Scotia
College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1970
and 1974; Visiting Artist, Ontario College of Art, Tor-
onto, Ontario, 1973, 1974 and 1976; CCMC Artist in
Residence, La Charteuse, Avignon Festival, Avignon,
France, 1981; Visual Art Professor, Princeton Univer-
sity, Princeton, New Jersey, 1988. Winnipeg Show Pur-
chase Award, 1958; Canada Council Arts Grant, 1959;
Henry Street Settlement Exhibition, 1964; Knokkle-le-
Zoute Film Festival, Belgium, First Prize, 1967; Canada
Council Senior Arts Grant, 1966; Guggenheim Fellow-
ship, 1972; Canada Council Senior Arts Grant, 1973;
Honourary Doctor of Laws degree, Brock University,
St. Catharines, Ontario, 1975; The Order of Canada,
1983; L.A. Film Critics’ Association Award, Best Inde-
pendent Experimental Film, 1983; Visual Arts Awards,
Toronto, Ontario, 1986; Honourary Doctorate from the
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova
Scotia, 1987. Living in Toronto, Ontario.Selected Individual Exhibitions
1957 The Isaacs Gallery; Toronto, Ontario
1964 Poindexter Gallery; New York, New York
1966 20/20 Gallery; London, Ontario
1967 Vancouver Art Gallery; Vancouver, British Columbia
1970 Michael Snow: A Survey; Art Gallery of Ontario; To-
ronto, Ontario
Bykert Gallery; New York, New York
XXV Venice Biennale; Venice, Italy
1972 Centre for Inter-American Relations; New York, New
York
1973 Camera Works by Michael Snow; University of Man-
itoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
1976 Michael Snow–Ten Photographic Works; Museum of
Modern Art; New York, New York
1978–79Michael Snow; Georges Pompidou Centre; Paris,
France (traveled to Kunstmuseum, Luzern, Switzerland;
Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, Holland; Rheinisches
Landesmuseum, Bonn, West Germany; Muse ́e des
Beaux Arts, Montreal, Quebec; Vancouver Art Gallery,
Vancouver, British Columbia)
1983 Snow in England; Canada House; London, England
Michael Snow; Frederick S. Wight Gallery; University
of California, Los Angeles, California
1983 Walking Women Works: Michael Snow 1961–1967;
Agnes Etherington Art Centre; Kingston, OntarioSNOW, MICHAEL