Brydon Smith

[3] Among his acquisitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario were the following outstanding works by Canadian and American artists: Joyce Wieland (Time Machine Series (1961)), Jim Dine (Black Bathroom #2 (1962)), Kenneth Noland (C (1964)), Frank Stella (Ossippee (1965)), Morris Louis (Lambda (1960–61)), Andy Warhol (Elvis I & II (1964)), George Segal (The Butcher Shop (1965)), and Claes Oldenburg (Floor Burger (1962)), among others.

Besides these prescient purchases, he organized the important exhibition titled Dine, Oldenburg, Segal (1967), which helped to introduce the Canadian public to Pop art.

[3] Smith also was instrumental in choosing Canadian artists for the national pavilion at the Venice biennale: Ulysse Comtois and Guido Molinari in 1968, Michael Snow in 1970, and Gershon Iskowitz and Walter Redinger in 1972.

[2] In 1973, he and Pierre Théberge co-curated Boucherville, Montreal, Toronto, London which introduced artists such as Ron Martin to the Canadian public.

During his tenure, Smith made nearly one hundred acquisitions for the national collection by artists such as Agnes Martin, Michael Snow, and Louise Bourgeois.

[5] In the years following 2000, he continued to work with artists he had championed such as Dan Flavin, Donald Judd and Ron Martin.

[10] In 2001, he contributed to a symposium and publication in Marfa, Texas by the Chinati Foundation titled Light in Architecture and Art: The Work of Dan Flavin.

A Symposium Hosted by The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas, May 5 and 6, 2001 [11] In 2004, he contributed an essay to Dan Flavin: a retrospective, organized the National Gallery of Art in Washington.