Jessica Bradley

Jessica Bradley (born 1948) has served as a curator for Contemporary art at the National Gallery of Canada (1979-1987) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (lead curator in the Department of Contemporary Art, 1995-2004), organizing many exhibitions in a broad range of Canadian and international art. She was known as a tastemaker in her institutional roles and later, as a gallerist.

Bradley is the editor of an anthology of writing on Canadian contemporary art, Sight Lines: Reading Contemporary Canadian Art, and has authored several monographs, one of which appeared in 2024, on Betty Goodwin, many catalogues and articles in Journals.

Early years Jessica Bradley was born in Birmingham, in the United Kingdom. She emigrated to Canada with her family in 1951. They settled first in Victoria, B.C., and then in Ottawa. She attended Carleton University, Ottawa for her B. A. in English Literature & Art History (1971); received a Certificat des études en langue et culture française, from L'Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France (1972); and took an Honours year in Art History, at York University, Toronto (1972-1973). She received her M.A., in Communications/Cultural Studies, at McGill University, Montreal (1991); and was a Doctoral candidate, Ph.D. in Humanities (Art history, Critical Theory & Communications), at Concordia University, Montreal (1993-1995). that later became known as the "Jessica Bradley Gallery", which was regarded as a trendsetter in Canada and internationally. The gallery put on more than 80 exhibitions and specialized in the newer generations of artists. It closed in 2015. Since 2022, she has resided in Montreal where she is an independent curator and contemporary art consultant. with guest curators Chantal Pontbriand, Philip Fry, Alan Mackay and Willard Holmes; Nancy Tousley in Artforum magazine called this exhibition of 19 Canadian Contemporary artists coordinated by Jessica Bradley ambitious and added that it provoked controversy in the Canadian art world. Paterson Ewen Venice Biennale (1982); Giuseppe Penone (1983), toured to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago & The Fort Worth Art Museum;

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto: Yinka Shonibare, Present Tense project series (1996); House Guests: Contemporary Artists in The Grange (2001): Luis Jacob, Robert Fones, Rebecca Belmore, Christy Thompson, Elaine Reichek, Elizabeth LeMoine and Josiah McElheny; Provisional Worlds (2002): Shirley Tse, Christie Frields, Sara MacKillop, Damian Moppett, Kelly Richardson, James Carl and Tony Feher. Reviewed by Sarah Parsons in Canadian Art. and in Artforum by Michael Wilson.

Independent Exhibition Projects: Jana Sterbak, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina (1989); Betty Goodwin: Signs of Life, National Gallery of Canada and Art Gallery of Windsor (1996); Margaux Williamson: Interiors; McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg ON (2021, publication);

Writing Bradley is a prominent writer on contemporary art in Canada. Her publications include texts in catalogues, independent books, and articles—several written for the Canadian Encyclopedia. She has organized, co-organized, or contributed essays, to exhibitions or articles on the art of Giuseppe Penone (1983), and other international artists such as Miroslaw Balka, Doris Salcedo, and Rachel Whiteread (1998) and Rodney Graham (2004) as well as Canadian artists such as Tom Dean (1999), Jana Sterbak (1989, 1993), Jin-me Yoon (1987), Dominique Blain (1994), Liz Magor (1984) and Rebecca Belmore (1994). Her book "Sight Lines: Reading Contemporary Canadian Art", a thematic anthology of 25 critical texts, co-edited with Lesley Johnstone, Montreal, was published by Editions Artexte (1994).

Honours and awards Canada Council grants awarded in the Curator/Critics category (mid-career 1989, 1992 and Senior Arts Award, 1994); Doctoral fellowship, Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs a l’aide à la Recherche (Quebec), 1993-1994; Ontario Association of Art Galleries curatorial writing award, 1996.