New Search
Photo Search
Audiovisual Search
Al Gilbert, C.M.
- Accession Number
- 2021-4-3
- Source
- Archival Accessions
- Accession Number
- 2021-4-3
- Material Format
- graphic material
- textual record
- object
- philatelic record
- Physical Description
- 3153 photographs : b&w and col. (3133 negatives) ; 41 x 51 cm or smaller
- 13 sheets of postage stamps
- 1 folder of textual records
- 2 presentation pieces : 23 x 34 x 2 cm
- Date
- [1945?]-2006
- Scope and Content
- Accession consists of Negev Dinner negatives for the years of 1969, 1975-1977, and 1979-2006. Also included are several presentation pieces comprised of portraits that Gilbert took for presidents and prime ministers of Israel and Israeli Prime Ministerial postage stamps produced from those portraits. Some of the presentation pieces are accompanied by thank-you letters address to Gilbert and signatures of Gilbert and presidents and prime ministers of Israel being featured. Accession also includes six portraits featuring Robert Sterling, Elliotte Friedman’s grandmother, [Sydney Sugarman?], and one unidentified person; two unidentified group photographs; one unidentified wedding photograph; and one photograph depicting Al Gilbert at an event. Also included is an oversized group photograph of Greenfild’s Jewish Radio Hour of CKOC featuring Max Mandel and his colleagues.
- Negev Dinner honourees include Mark Levy and Harry Gorman (1969); Rabbi Gunther Plaut (1975); James Kay (1976); Premier Bill Davis (1977); Murray Koffler (1979); Rose Wolfe (1980); Theodore Richmond (1981); Arnold Epstein and Madeline Epstein (1982); Kurt Rothschild and Edith Rothschild (1983); Abe Posluns (1984); Donald Carr and Judy Feld Carr (1985); Dr. Gerald Halbert (1986); Edwin Goodman (1987); Douglas Bassett (1988); Max Sharp and Isadore Sharp (1989); Bernard Weinstein (1990); Harry Gorman (1991); Albert Mandel, Nathan Hurwich, and Lewis Moses (1992); George Cohen (1993); Joey Tanenbaum (1994); Leslie Dan (1995); Henry Newton Rowell “Hal” Jackman (1996); Edward Bronfman (1997); Allan Silber (1998); Dr. Anne Golden (1999); Avie Bennett (2000); Alex Grossman (2001); Toby Feldberg and Saul Feldberg (2002); Eli Rubinstein and Renée Rubinstein (2003); Ronald Appleby (2004); Joseph Lebovic and Wolf Lebovic (2005); Ed and Fran Sonshine (2006).
- Presidents and prime ministers of Israel being featured include Levi Eshkol, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Shimon Peres, and Chaim Herzog.
- Custodial History
- Accession donated by Nina Gilbert, Al Gilbert's daughter, on behalf of the Estate of Al Gilbert.
- Administrative History
- Nachman (Nathan) Gittelmacher was born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1898 to Shloima and Mattie Gittelmacher. Suffering terribly during the pogroms of 1918 and 1920, he fled from place to place and then emigrated to Canada in 1921. Trained as a photographer in Europe, he opened his own photography studio in Toronto in 1922, called Elite Studios. First located at 513 Queen Street West, he soon moved to 615 Queen Street West. Nathan serviced a largely Jewish clientele, photographing weddings, bar mitzvahs, and Jewish community events. Nathan was married to Nina Sokoloff and had three sons and a daughter: Louis (Lou), Albert (Al), Jack, and Ruth. During the early 1940s, the family legally changed their name from Gittelmacher to Gilbert and subsequently altered the name of the business to Gilbert Studios. When Nathan moved to the United States, Al, who had been working there since a young age, took over the business. It thrived under his management. To accommodate his growing clientele, he moved the studio to Eglinton Avenue and later to 170 Davenport Road, where it is situated today. Al made a name for himself as a portrait photographer, using natural light in innovative ways to create more natural looking portraits. Al’s primary work involved producing portraits of families, weddings, bar mitzvahs, special events, and dinners. Most of his early clients were from the Jewish community. He was also paid to produce portraits for local entrepreneurs. Moreover, his multi-year contract with the city gave him sole responsibility of producing portraits for the mayors and council members. He later branched out beyond the Jewish community and began to produce images for businessmen and leaders from the Italian community in Toronto. In addition to the paid contracts involving local personalities and groups, Al Gilbert has also produced many artistic portraits of local, national, and international celebrities, artists, and leaders, such as Wayne and Shuster, Howie Mandel, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Robertson Davies, several Canadian prime ministers, Prince Charles, and the last Pope. He also produced portraits for all of the Israeli prime ministers, which were made into postage stamps by the Israeli government. Gilbert’s work, therefore, captures a huge range of individuals from the ordinary brides to extraordinary world leaders. Throughout his career, Al has won many professional awards and accolades from his peers. He is the three-time recipient of the prestigious Photographer of the Year award of the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC). He has been named Fellow of the photographic societies in Canada, Britain, and the United States. In 1990, he was awarded the Order of Canada. In January 2007, the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) presented him with their Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is the highest honour that PPA can bestow on a person for their body of work and influence on professional photography.
- Use Conditions
- Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the Archives to obtain permission prior to use.
- Subjects
- Photographers
- Name Access
- Gilbert, Al, 1922-2019
- Places
- Toronto (Ont.)
- Source
- Archival Accessions