Montrealers: A Story in Portraits

From the Montreal Gazette.

Place d’Armes (1941) Conrad Poirier / BANQ

This commemorative book shows Montrealers, from the beginnings of photography through to 1976, in images that capture the fragility of a moment, fleeting, yet frozen in time. Through hundreds of snapshots, this book reveals the face of an entire social world.  

Some photos are the work of masters of photography such as Robert Notman, Henri Cartier-Bresson, John Max, Alain Chagnon, Yousuf Karsh and many more. 

Others were taken by more or less everyday photographers, generally unaware that they were providing future generations with an invaluable glimpse of humanity and a fragment of eternity. These photographs are accompanied by commentary on the photographer’s work, if one exists, and on fascinating characteristics of the world they unveil to us. 

The photos are grouped under different themes: housing, culture, streets, religion, work, transportation, First Nations and more. This wholly unique book contains more than 400 original photographs, many previously unpublished or unknown.

Taverne de Paris, St-Denis St. (1973) Alain Chagnon

Commuters in the snow, near Windsor Hotel (1969). David Wallace Marvin / McCord Museum

Buildings slated to be demolished in Victoriatown (1963)
Jean-Paul Gill and Ludger Lécuyer / City of Montreal Archives 

Young boys in street (circa 1940). Paul-Marc Auger / McCord Museum

Montrealers: A Story in Portraits
Jean-François Nadeau
Juniper Publishing
352 pages
ISBN 9781988002194
$125.00