Fonds F0134 - Avrom Isaacs fonds

Avrom Isaacs, Toronto art dealer, was born in Winnipeg in 1926 and graduated with an Honours B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Toronto in 1950. In 1955, he opened The Isaacs Gallery where he represented numerous Canadian artists, including Michael Snow, Graham Goughtry, Gordon Rayner, Jack Chambers, Joyce Wieland, Mark Prent, John Meredith, Robert Markle and Gathie Falk. Isaacs opened the Innuit Gallery in Toronto in 1970 and has served on the executive of the Professional Art Dealers Association of Canada. He was awarded an honourary doctorate by York University in 1992 and is an Associate Fellow of Calumet College at York. He was a recipient of the RCAIC silver medal in 1992, a former director of the Toronto Arts Awards Foundation, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Ontario College of Art. He has served on various arts advisory boards at the municipal, provincial and federal level, and was a member of the board of the Canadian Filmmakers' Distribution Centre from 1979 to 1982, serving as it's Chairman from 1981 to 1982. In addition to publishing a number of books and records of contemporary music, Isaacs has also sponsored poetry readings, underground film screenings, and mixed media concerts at his gallery. In August 1991 Isaacs consolidated his two galleries to form the Isaacs/Innuit Gallery. The gallery closed in 2001.