Jessica Bradley (curator)

Jessica Bradley (born 1948) has served as a curator for Contemporary art at the National Gallery of Canada (1979-1987) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (lead curator in the Department of Contemporary Art, 1995-2004), organizing many exhibitions in a broad range of Canadian and international art. She was known as a tastemaker in her institutional roles and later, as a gallerist.

Jessica Bradley
Born	Jessica May Bradley 1948 (1948) Birmingham, U.K.
Nationality	Canadian
Education	B. A., English Literature & Art History, Carleton University, Ottawa (1971); Certificat des études en langue et culture française, L'Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France (1972); Honours year Art History, York University, Toronto (1972-1973); M.A., Communications/Cultural Studies, McGill University, Montreal (1991); Doctoral candidate, Ph.D. in Humanities (Art history, Critical Theory & Communications), Concordia University, Montreal (1993-1995)
Known for	Curator of Contemporary Art
Spouse	Geoffrey James
Awards	Canada Council grants in the Curator/Critics category (mid-career 1989, 1992 and Senior Arts Award, 1994); Doctoral fellowship, Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs a l’aide à la Recherche (Quebec), 1993-1994; Ontario Association of Art Galleries curatorial writing award, 1996.

Bradley is the editor of an anthology of writing on Canadian contemporary art, Sight Lines: Reading Contemporary Canadian Art, and has authored several monographs, one of which will appear in 2024, on Betty Goodwin, many catalogues and articles in Journals.

Early years

Jessica Bradley was born in Birmingham, in the United Kingdom. She emigrated to Canada with her family in 1951. They settled first in Victoria, B.C., and then in Ottawa. She attended Carleton University, Ottawa for her B. A. in English Literature & Art History (1971); received a Certificat des études en langue et culture française, from L'Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France (1972); and took an Honours year in Art History, at York University, Toronto (1972-1973). She received her M.A., in Communications/Cultural Studies, at McGill University, Montreal (1991); and was a Doctoral candidate, Ph.D. in Humanities (Art history, Critical Theory & Communications), at Concordia University, Montreal (1993-1995).

Career

Bradley began her career in 1972 at the National Gallery of Canada as an education officer and in 1974 became liaison and special projects officer for the Art Bank of the Canada Council for the Arts. From 1979 to 1987, she was Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and from 1987 to 1995 she was a free-lance curator and critic in Montreal. In 1995 she was appointed Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto, where she was responsible for acquisitions of contemporary art and exhibitions of artists from Canada and internationally. She was commissioner for Canada's representation at the Venice Biennale in 1982, 1984, and in 1999.

Bradley organized exhibitions in Canada and abroad, including Displacements: Miroslaw Balka, Doris Salcedo and Rachel Whiteread (AGO 1997), and Rodney Graham: A Little Thought, produced by the AGO in collaboration with the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and the Vancouver Art Gallery (2004). She initiated the "Present Tense" series of project exhibitions while at the AGO and has published widely. She is co-editor, with Lesley Johnstone, of the anthology Site Lines: Reading Contemporary Canadian Art (1995, Artext, Montreal), and her essays are found in several catalogues and books. Her most recent publication will be in the Fall of 2024, Betty Goodwin: Life and Work.

Bradley has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in contemporary art history and critical theory at the University of Ottawa, Concordia University, Montreal, the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD), in Toronto, and was an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University, Toronto (1999-2005). In 2005, she founded and directed Jessica Bradley Art + Projects in Toronto, that later became known as the "Jessica Bradley Gallery", which was regarded as a trendsetter in Canada and internationally. The gallery put on more than 80 exhibitions and specialized in the newer generations of artists. It closed in 2015. Since 2022, she has resided in Montreal where she is an independent curator and contemporary art consultant.

Selected exhibitions

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa:

• Pluralities (1980) with guest curators Chantal Pontbriand, Philip Fry, Alan Mackay and Willard Holmes; Nancy Tousley in Artforum magazine called this exhibition of 19 Canadian Contemporary artists coordinated by Jessica Bradley ambitious and added that it provoked controversy in the Canadian art world.
• Paterson Ewen Venice Biennale (1982);
• Giuseppe Penone (1983), toured to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago & The Fort Worth Art Museum;
• Liz Magor/Ian Carr-Harris Venice Biennale (1984);
• Songs of Experience (1986), co-curated with Diana Nemiroff: reviewed by Peggy Gale in Canadian Art magazine and by Carole Corbeil in the Globe and Mail who said the exhibition reflected issues and concerns in contemporary art.

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto:

• Yinka Shonibare, Present Tense project series (1996);
• Jin-me Yoon/Kim Yasuda: The Distance Between (1997);
• Displacements: Miroslaw Balka, Doris Salcedo, Rachel Whiteread (1998);
• "The Art of Betty Goodwin", co-edited book and exhibition with Matthew Teitelbaum, co-published by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto in conjunction with the exhibition (1998);
• Tom Dean: The Whole Catastrophe, Venice Biennale (1999);
• House Guests: Contemporary Artists in The Grange (2001): Luis Jacob, Robert Fones, Rebecca Belmore, Christy Thompson, Elaine Reichek, Elizabeth LeMoine and Josiah McElheny;
• Provisional Worlds (2002): Shirley Tse, Christie Frields, Sara MacKillop, Damian Moppett, Kelly Richardson, James Carl and Tony Feher.
• Rodney Graham: A Little Thought (2003), toured to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, ICA Philadelphia and the Vancouver Art Gallery; The Art Gallery of Ontario described it as a major exhibition with more than 25 works from 1976 to 2003, showing the development of his film, video, and sound works.Reviewed by Sarah Parsons in Canadian Art. and in Artforum by Michael Wilson.

Independent Exhibition Projects:

• Jana Sterbak, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina (1989);
• Kiki Smith, The Power Plant, Toronto (1994);
• Betty Goodwin: Signs of Life, National Gallery of Canada and Art Gallery of Windsor (1996);
• Margaux Williamson: Interiors; McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg ON (2021, publication);

Writing

Bradley is a prominent writer on contemporary art in Canada. Her publications include texts in catalogues, independent books, and articles—several written for the Canadian Encyclopedia. She has organized, co-organized, or contributed essays, to exhibitions or articles on the art of Giuseppe Penone (1983), and other international artists such as Miroslaw Balka, Doris Salcedo, and Rachel Whiteread (1998) and Rodney Graham (2004) as well as Canadian artists such as Tom Dean (1999), Jana Sterbak (1989, 1993), Jin-me Yoon (1987), Dominique Blain (1994), Liz Magor (1984) and Rebecca Belmore (1994). She is the author of the e-book The Art of Betty Goodwin (Art Canada Institute, 2024). With Diana Nemiroff, she co-organized the landmark exhibition Songs of Experience which Peggy Gale, one of Bradley’s peers, described in Canadian Art magazine as "a weather-vane for institutional winds of change" in our national institutions. Her book "Sight Lines: Reading Contemporary Canadian Art", a thematic anthology of 25 critical texts, co-edited with Lesley Johnstone, Montreal, was published by Editions Artexte (1994).

Honours and awards

• Canada Council grants awarded in the Curator/Critics category (mid-career 1989, 1992 and Senior Arts Award, 1994);
• Doctoral fellowship, Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs a l’aide à la Recherche (Quebec), 1993-1994;
• Ontario Association of Art Galleries curatorial writing award, 1996.