VANCOUVER, BC.- The Vancouver Art Gallery has acquired a major art collection valued at $2 million (CDN) consisting of over 460 exceptional photographic images by some of the world’s most acclaimed photographers. The acquisition, from the collection of Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft, comprises rare and vintage prints by some of the most recognized figures in the history of photography including Ansel Adams, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Margaret Bourke-White, Julia Margaret Cameron, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Andrea Kertesz, Dorothea Lange, Nadar, August Sander, Aaron Siskind, Alfred Stieglitz and Garry Winogrand. In all, the acquisition, which is part gift and part purchase, comprises 463 prints by 155 artists, 128 of whom have been added to the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery for the first time. The collection spans key moments in the history of photography and captures a fascinating record of life from the invention of photography in the mid-19th century to the present. The works will be exhibited at the Gallery from January 29 to May 29, 2005 in Real Pictures: Photographs from the Collection of Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft.

“The Beck/Gruft collection is one of the most significant privately held photography collections in Canada and is exceptional in its scope and quality, “said Kathleen Bartels, Director, Vancouver Art Gallery. “This acquisition provides an important historical grounding to the Gallery’s already significant photography collection and radically broadens the scope of the Gallery’s existing collection. As a gift to the Gallery, it is an expression of remarkable generosity by Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft who have played an important role within the Vancouver art community over the past three decades.”