Michael Parke-Taylor

Michael Parke-Taylor (born August 5, 1953) is an independent art historian and curator who worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto in various positions for twenty-three years, retiring as Curator of Modern Art in 2011. He has published widely and is a collector of popular culture. In 2024, he curated the retrospective exhibition and wrote the accompanying book for the exhibition Bertram Brooker: When We Awake! at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg.

Career Parke-Taylor was born in Toronto.

Parke-Taylor has published on aspects of the 1960s San Francisco psychedelic rock posters and in 2008 donated an extensive collection of street gig posters from Toronto to Library and Archives Canada (R12541-0-7-E). In 2011, Parke-Taylor curated the exhibition PIN UP at Mercer Union in Toronto which featured posters by contemporary Canadian artists and an installation of Toronto gig posters from Parke-Taylor’s private collection. He has written articles for the Journal of Popular Culture about psychedelic posters and catalogue entries on the new Western frontier in art and film. Parke-Taylor's extensive MAD magazine and related archive was donated to York University Archives in Toronto in 2024.

Writing Parke-Taylor organized, co-organized or contributed essays to exhibitions on a wide range of art and artists, contributing to the art writing on such artists as Edmund Morris (1984), Robert Longo (1986), Edvard Munch (1997), and Modigliani (2004), and has curated exhibitions on a broad range of subjects in the field of prints and drawings. "Some Magnetic Force" is said to provide "remarkable insights into the influences, interests, and innovations" of the Group of Seven's prairie artist.