Barbara Steinman

Barbara Steinman portrait

For over forty years, Barbara Steinman’s work has consistently given shape to migration of identities and symbols, as well as the intertwined pathways of time and history, of individual and collective memory. From her critically acclaimed installations of the 1980s and 1990s, that were often site-specific and multimedia, to her more recent photographic series addressing the echo of time-based forms (the flight of a bird, a soundwave, or a magnetic tape), through numerous private and public commissions including the new Canadian Embassy in Berlin awarded in 2002, Steinman uses a great variety of media and materials to explore what she once called “layers of impermanence”.

Known for her multidisciplinary work, Barbara Steinman began her career in Vancouver as a video artist. At the beginning of the 1980s she was the co-director of artist-run centers Vidéo Véhicule and Powerhouse Gallery in Montreal.

Steinman’s works have been presented in numerous biennials and exhibitions in Canada, Europe, Japan, and the US, among which the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Canada. Steinman was the recipient of the Governor General’s Award for her outstanding contribution to the fields of visual and media arts (2002). She received an honorary doctorate from Concordia University in Montreal (2015). Her work is represented by Olga Korper Gallery in Toronto and Galerie Françoise Paviot in Paris.

Photo: Dominique Malaterre

Available Artworks

L'Écoute II 1998/2021
L'Écoute II, 1998/2021
L'Écoute II detail
L'Écoute II, 1998/2021

artwork detail

L'Écoute II detail
L'Écoute II, 1998/2021

L'Écoute II, 1998/2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic Print (diptych), edition of 5 71” x 39.5”
Magnetic Tape Half-inch No. 1 2013
Magnetic Tape: Half-inch, No. 1, 2013

Magnetic Tape: Half-inch, No. 1, 2013

Barbara Steinman
Chromogenic print, Fuji Crystal Archive paper, glossy, ed. of 5 42.5” x 58”
Magnetic Tape Half-inch No. 2 2013
Magnetic Tape: Half-inch, No. 2, 2013

Magnetic Tape: Half-inch, No. 2, 2013

Barbara Steinman
Chromogenic print, Fuji Crystal Archive paper, glossy, ed. of 5 42.5” x 58”
Shards Compact Disc No. 2 2013
Shards: Compact Disc, No. 2, 2013

Shards: Compact Disc, No. 2, 2013

Barbara Steinman
Chromogenic print, Fuji Crystal Archive paper, glossy, ed. of 5 42.5” x 58”
Shards Compact Disc No. 1 2013
Shards: Compact Disc, No. 1, 2013

Shards: Compact Disc, No. 1, 2013

Barbara Steinman
Chromogenic print, Fuji Crystal Archive paper, glossy, ed. of 5 42.5” x 58”
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 8 2008
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 8, 2008
birds in flight context
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 8, 2008

Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 8, 2008

Barbara Steinman
giclée print, ed. of 5 28.75” x 28.75”
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 7 2008
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 7, 2008
birds in flight context
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 7, 2008

Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 7, 2008

Barbara Steinman
giclée print, ed. of 5 28.75” x 28.75”
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 2 2008
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 2, 2008
birds in flight context
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 2, 2008

Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 2, 2008

Barbara Steinman
giclée print, ed. of 5 28.75” x 28.75”
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 1 2008
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 1, 2008
birds in flight context
Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 1, 2008

Flight: After Muybridge - Plate 755, 1887, No. 1, 2008

Barbara Steinman
giclée print, ed. of 5 28.75” x 28.75”
PENDANTS: Crystal (spear) 2005
PENDANTS: Crystal (spear), 2005

PENDANTS: Crystal (spear), 2005

Barbara Steinman
dye coupler print, ed. of 5 34" x 29"
Keeping Time No. 116 2021
Keeping Time No. 116, 2021

Keeping Time No. 116, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 132 2021
Keeping Time No. 132, 2021

Keeping Time No. 132, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 172 2021
Keeping Time No. 172, 2021

Keeping Time No. 172, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 281 2021
Keeping Time No. 281, 2021

Keeping Time No. 281, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 532 2021
Keeping Time No. 532, 2021

Keeping Time No. 532, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 487 2021
Keeping Time No. 487, 2021

Keeping Time No. 487, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 306 2021
Keeping Time No. 306, 2021

Keeping Time No. 306, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 430 2021
Keeping Time No. 430, 2021

Keeping Time No. 430, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 166 2021
Keeping Time No. 166, 2021

Keeping Time No. 166, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 456 2021
Keeping Time No. 456, 2021

Keeping Time No. 456, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 246 2021
Keeping Time No. 246, 2021

Keeping Time No. 246, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Hahnemühle rag Baryta paper, ed. of 3 48" x 37"
Keeping Time No. 129 2021
Keeping Time No. 129, 2021

Keeping Time No. 129, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Hahnemühle rag Baryta paper, ed. of 3 48" x 37"
Keeping Time No. 37 2021
Keeping Time No. 37, 2021

Keeping Time No. 37, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 97 2021
Keeping Time No. 97, 2021

Keeping Time No. 97, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 536 2021
Keeping Time No. 536, 2021

Keeping Time No. 536, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 106 2021
Keeping Time No. 106, 2021

Keeping Time No. 106, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 2 2021
Keeping Time No. 2, 2021

Keeping Time No. 2, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 261 2021
Keeping Time No. 261, 2021

Keeping Time No. 261, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 439 2021
Keeping Time No. 439, 2021

Keeping Time No. 439, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 46 2021
Keeping Time No. 46, 2021

Keeping Time No. 46, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 130 2021
Keeping Time No. 130, 2021

Keeping Time No. 130, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 120 2021
Keeping Time No. 120, 2021

Keeping Time No. 120, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 128 2021
Keeping Time No. 128, 2021

Keeping Time No. 128, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Keeping Time No. 356 2021
Keeping Time No. 356, 2021

Keeping Time No. 356, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 24.25” x 20.25” framed
Keeping Time No. 8 2021
Keeping Time No. 8, 2021

Keeping Time No. 8, 2021

Barbara Steinman
chromogenic print on Caslon Photographique rag paper ed. of 5 19” x 15”
Ginkgo, 2023

Ginkgo, 2023

Barbara Steinman
Chromogenic print on Canson rag Photographique, ed. of 3, 10" x 8"