Ann Thomas is a Canadian photography curator and art historian born in Durban, South Africa. She emigrated to Canada as a teenager during the apartheid era. After obtaining her B.A. from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) and an M.F.A. from Concordia University in 1976, she began her career at the National Gallery of Canada in 1977. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, she served as Assistant Curator, Associate Curator, and Senior Curator of Photographs, also twice serving as interim chief curator. She is recognized for her extensive work in collecting, curating major exhibitions (such as those on Lisette Model and Don McCullin), and authoring numerous catalogues and books on photography. She retired from the National Gallery in 2021 and continues to work as an independent curator.[1,3,4]
Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science1997 · Yale University Press · book · EnglishISBN 300073402Edited by Ann Thomas with essays by Marta Braun, Mimi Cazort, Martin Kemp, John P. McElhone, and Larry J.
Modernist Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada2007 · National Gallery of Canada · bookISBN 9780888848291
Isabelle Hayeur: American Dreams: Desert Shores2019 · Plein sud édition · bookISBN 978-2-922256-86-4Monograph on Hayeur.
Exhibitions
1997Beauty of Another Order: Photography in ScienceNational Gallery of Canada, Ottawagroup
1990Lisette Modelsolo
2013Don McCullin: A RetrospectiveNational Gallery of Canada, Ottawasolo
2014The Great War: the persuasive power of photographyNational Gallery of Canada, Ottawagroup
2015Luminous and True: The Photographs of Frederick H. EvansNational Gallery of Canada, Ottawasolo
