Whatever happend to John Max?

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

He might be obscure now, but in the 60s and the 70s, he was one of Canada's most important art photographer, worked at the NFB stills department during its heydays, went to Japan on a grant, was buddy with Leonard Cohen, but the last I've seen of him was the fact that he was going to be evicted from his flat in 2003. It seems as if he may have experienced some mental illness, and his life gradually collapsed.

Here's a gallery online that was representing him in some official way, it seems, but they haven't updated much since 2004 :

Dead Link Removed

 

[Claire Senft]

He formed a rap group and has been using the stagename Tmax. Sorry the devil made me do it.

 

[Markok765]

He formed a rap group and has been using the stagename Tmax. Sorry the devil made me do it.

The lead singer was called rodinal

 

[roteague]

He married Sara Min and they now have a bunch of max-mins.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

You silly geese... Anybody checked his pictures, at least?

 

[roteague]

You silly geese... Anybody checked his pictures, at least?

Write him and ask him how he is doing - john-max@netspaceproject.com.

Here is a web page about him: Dead Link Removed

BTW, I looked at his work, and I'm sorry I did. Not my cup of tea, to put it mildly.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Robert, not to break it to you, but that link you send me it was in my first post... Thanks for the effort anyway. And I already sent them a request about him.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Dear former 2006-era self,

I thought you would be interested in knowing that for the last few years, I've been working on answering your question in the only way possible: doing a PhD about it.

I would be glad to see you at my defence, this Tuesday 11 June 2019, after eight years of research and writing.

I've included a flier, hope to see you there,

Cheers!

 

[DonJ]

 

[L Gebhardt]

Dear former 2006-era self,

I thought you would be interested in knowing that for the last few years, I've been working on answering your question in the only way possible: doing a PhD about it.

I would be glad to see you at my defence, this Tuesday 11 June 2019, after eight years of research and writing.

I've included a flier, hope to see you there,

Cheers! View attachment 223053

That’s a lot of work to answer a forum question . Hope your dissertation goes well. If it ends up online post a link here please.

 

[Hilo]

His book Open Passport from the early seventies is one of photography's gems: original and honest photography. With Danny Seymour's A Loud Song and Dave Heath's A Dialogue with Solitude one of my favorites

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

His book Open Passport from the early seventies is one of photography's gems: original and honest photography. With Danny Seymour's A Loud Song and Dave Heath's A Dialogue with Solitude one of my favorites

Yes, and Dave Heath also appreciated the work of Max. He left some comments to this effect when he visited the exhibition. However I think the admiration was not reciprocal. But Heath's a very interesting photographer in his own right.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

View attachment 223097

Tempting...

 

[tezzasmall]

I've never heard of John Max before, but here is a link, as the original has been removed:

http://www.photoshopsupport.com/johnmax/index.html

Terry S

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Dear former self,

You'll be dang glad to know that I've published an article about him in the journal History of Photography, https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/thph20, one of the important journals in the field.

The PDF is not yet available, but it's coming soon. When it gets there, I'll let you know because there's a paywall. But in the meantime, if you're curious, I've just received printouts of the article on my doorstep this morning.

Send me a PM if you'd like a copy.

He might be obscure now, but in the 60s and the 70s, he was one of Canada's most important art photographer, worked at the NFB stills department during its heydays, went to Japan on a grant, was buddy with Leonard Cohen, but the last I've seen of him was the fact that he was going to be evicted from his flat in 2003. It seems as if he may have experienced some mental illness, and his life gradually collapsed.

Here's a gallery online that was representing him in some official way, it seems, but they haven't updated much since 2004 :

Dead Link Removed

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Dear you,

I hope you'll be glad to be making History of Photography:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03087298.2020.1771052

 

[reddesert]

Congratulations on the dissertation and article!

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

It's become a tradition for me every time I do something important about John Max to announce it, so here's one for the ages: I have put together an original photobook from his archives, which has just been released in Québec City by VU. Texts in French and in English.

Basically, it's five different sequences that tell the story of different kinds of artists in Montréal at the end of the 1950s. You have literature, painting, music, cinema, and photography. Some famous names like Leonard Cohen, Armand Vaillancourt (save the Fountain, SF!) or Alanis Obomsawin, and some much less famous ones as well.

John Max took a lot of photographs of artists in those days, and they give a rare glimpse into the actual artistic life of the city. Not just as a series of headshots, but as actual lived-in reportage.

It would be my greatest honour for you to buy it, which you may do here:

https://vuphoto.org/fr/product/premieres-planches-photos-de-john-max/#tab-description

 

[Alex Benjamin]

It's become a tradition for me every time I do something important about John Max to announce it, so here's one for the ages: I have put together an original photobook from his archives, which has just been released in Québec City by VU. Texts in French and in English.

Basically, it's five different sequences that tell the story of different kinds of artists in Montréal at the end of the 1950s. You have literature, painting, music, cinema, and photography. Some famous names like Leonard Cohen, Armand Vaillancourt (save the Fountain, SF!) or Alanis Obomsawin, and some much less famous ones as well.

John Max took a lot of photographs of artists in those days, and they give a rare glimpse into the actual artistic life of the city. Not just as a series of headshots, but as actual lived-in reportage.

It would be my greatest honour for you to buy it, which you may do here:

https://vuphoto.org/fr/product/premieres-planches-photos-de-john-max/#tab-description

Is there a store in Montreal where I can get it?

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Is there a store in Montreal where I can get it?

I’m not sure yet which bookstore will carry it, but it’s distributed by Dimedia and you can already buy it on the page I linked to.

 

[Alex Benjamin]

I’m not sure yet which bookstore will carry it, but it’s distributed by Dimedia and you can already buy it on the page I linked to.

Great. I know someone who works at Dimedia, so I'll have no problem getting it. Congrats on the book.

 

[aconbere]

@Michel Hardy-Vallée went looking around today and ran into your trailer for the movie you made with an interview between you and John? Do you know if this is distributed anywhere? I enjoyed the little interaction and would happily watch the whole film.