Hello! My friend Julie and I had a Galentine and belated friendiversay (our 10th!) outing this past week, at the Leonard Cohen Exhibition at the AGO (aka the Art Gallery of Ontario).
“Leonard Cohen : Everybody Knows” runs until April 10, 2023.
To quote the gallery’s description of the show, with more on their website here :
“An enduring artistic force, Canadian novelist, poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) is renowned the world over for his meditations on beauty, death, loss and the human heart.
The first museum exhibition to present the holdings of the Leonard Cohen Family Trust, Everybody Knows immerses visitors in the many facets of Cohen’s creative life. Rare concert footage and archival materials, including musical instruments, notebooks, lyrics and letters are featured alongside photographs, drawing, and digital art created by Cohen across several decades.”
We both loved it. In addition to being very interesting, it was set up beautifully with dramatic lighting and a cohesive use of the perfect shade of blue.
Among the items on display were plenty of photographs, notebooks containing the artist’s hand writing, artworks he created throughout his lifetime, and, of course, music which could be heard, along with some spoken word, in two separate spaces where loops of concert and interview footage were played.
↑ Portrait by his friend Hazel Field, taken in 1977. We noticed quite a number of photos of him had been taken by her. ↑
↑ One of his notebooks with the draft lyrics for the song “Everybody Knows” ↑
↑ A notebook with photo-booth strips and some Polaroids ↑
↑ The Kitchen, Montreal July 2007 – Ink and watercolor on paper, by Leonard Cohen ↑
↑ A keyboard was set up, which still had a set list taped to it. ↑
Entry to the show was included with a general admission ticket, but for $10 more you can get an annual pass, good for unlimited enjoyment of all the wonderful art displayed within this beloved place, for a year.
Thank you for reading. I hope you go see the show and enjoy yourself at the AGO. xo loulou
