The Francis Bedford Research Collection with Steven Evans

Hosted by: Ryerson Image Centre

Please join Steven Evans, Media Studies ’82, for a Noon Time Collection Talk on the Francis Bedford Research Collection, which was recently acquired by the Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) in March 2021. 

Steven Evans is a Toronto-based photographer and collector who has focused on architecture and the urban environment for over 40 years. Evans graduated from Ryerson University’s Media Studies program in 1982.

He has worked with many of Canada’s top architecture and design firms and his images have been published in national and international magazines and websites. Evans’ documentary photography has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in various public collections including The Art Gallery of Ontario, The Canadian Centre for Architecture, the City of Toronto Archives and here at the RIC, as well as numerous private and corporate collections. 

As a collector, Evans compiled, over two decades, a comprehensive resource of early photographs and other objects associated with the British photographer Francis Bedford. The collection surveys Bedford’s impressive achievement as a leading maker of architectural and landscape images during the late 19th century. This 40-minute talk is an opportunity for the public to learn about the collection of nearly 1300 objects, which features the photographer’s early work with illustration and lithography, and examples of his amateur and commercial photography. 

Introduction and Q&A period moderated by Denise Birkhofer, RIC Collections Curator and Research Centre Manager.