Art Gallery of Ontario to open Leonard Cohen exhibit on Dec. 7

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Leonard Cohen is taking a bow at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

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The AGO will open a new Cohen exhibit, Everybody Knows, on Dec. 7 that will feature “rarely seen materials from the Leonard Cohen Family Trust.”

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Cohen, who died at the age of 82 in November 2016, was a poet, novelist, singer, songwriter, painter and photographer. He remains the only Canadian to have received both a Governor General’s Award for Poetry and an induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

The exhibition — curated by the AGO’s deputy director and chief curator, Julian Cox — will explore the Montreal-born Cohen’s artistry and spiritual journey through his own art, photographs, lyrics and writings.

The exhibit will feature more than 200 artworks and objects.

“What Cohen’s fame as a singer and songwriter tends to obscure, is just how multifaceted he was as an artist,” Cox said in a statement.

“It’s when you see his sketches, his photographs, his watercolours, his lyrics for Hallelujah, that a fulsome portrait of the artist is revealed – a creator at once playful, wry and deeply spiritual. This exhibition is a celebration of Cohen’s innate artistic force, and we are excited for visitors to discover – or re-discover the artist they think they know.”