TORONTO.- Today the Art Gallery of Ontario announced an extraordinary gift of modern and contemporary art from the late Carol and Morton Rapp. Enthusiastic and energetic patrons of the arts for more than seven decades, their intuitive approach to collecting drew them towards printmakers and photographers whose approach pushed the medium forward. Featuring more than 450 works by 203 artists, this gift — which includes a number of portfolios — will significantly bolster the AGO’s Prints and Drawings Collection, enabling it to tell the full story of the medium's renaissance in the late 1960s and 1970s and its ongoing evolution throughout the early decades of the 21st century.

Unique among Toronto collectors, Carol and Morton Rapp began collecting prints in the 1960s. In the 1990s their interests expanded to encompass contemporary photography and photogravures. Since 1966, the Rapp’s have generously donated 474 works to the AGO, and this latest gift is further proof of their enduring commitment to the AGO.

“More than collectors, Carol and Morton Rapp were stewards of great art, eager to share and preserve the things that brought them pleasure, beauty, and insight,” says Stephan Jost, Michael and Sonja Koerner Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario. “During their lifetimes they contributed immensely to the cultural fabric of Toronto and to the AGO, and this gift by their family is a heartfelt expression of their enduring commitment to this place.”

“Carol and Morton Rapp were passionate collectors and supported major artists for more than 60 years,” says Jay Smith, AGO Trustee and son-in-law. “They were globally connected and committed to building collections at the AGO and MoMA. One of the distinct legacies of this gift is that they worked closely with living artists and this shared energy is alive in the gift.”

Highlights of the Rapp gift include:

• 13 screenprints by Andy Warhol, including four portraits of Marilyn Monroe (1967) and Flowers 1, Flowers 2 and Flowers 3 from 1970

• Eight works by Robert Rauschenberg, including his first illustrated book composed of lithographs on moveable plexiglass plates Shades (1964) and his three-dimensional, screenprint on plexiglass sculpture Passport (1967)

• Entering the AGO collection for the first time, is American painter Barnett Newman, with a lithograph from 1964 entitled CANTO XVIII

• Nine works by Jasper Johns including lithographs A Cartoon for Tanya (1972) and Savarin (1982)

• Three prints and a portfolio of etchings and poems, Fifth Stone, Sixth Stone (1967-68) by Lee Bontecou, all produced by Universal Limited Art Editions

• Four early works by David Hockney, including 2 etchings from the Cavafy Suite, One Night (1966) and Two boys aged 23 or 24 (1966)

• Seven works by Claus Oldenburg, including Teabag (1966), a sculptural print of screenprinted vinyl and felt on plexiglass

• Three works by William Kentridge, including the monumental linoleum cut Telephone Lady from 2000, and Learning the Flute (2003), a technical tour-du-force composed of 110 individually printed sheets, printed on unbound pages from a 1950 edition of Chambers's Encyclopedia

• Three works on paper by Roy Lichtenstein, including the 1965 screenprint Pow Sweet Dreams Baby!

• Yinka Shonibare’s chromogenic photograph Diary of a Victorian Dandy: 19.00 hours (1998), a satirical take on William Hogarth’s famed caricatures

• Rachel Whiteread’s three-dimensional sculpture Secondhand (2004), an example of stereolithography, created using a 3D scan of vintage doll house furniture

• Kara Walker’s Testimony (2005), a set of 5 photogravures taken from her 2004 video work Testimony: Narrative of a Negress Burdened by Good Fortune

The gift arrives at a significant moment for the AGO, as construction continues on the Dani Reiss Modern & Contemporary Gallery, a 40,000 sq. ft. expansion designed to showcase the AGO’s growing collection of modern and contemporary art.