TAKAO TANABE: ON PAPER: A Survey Exhibition

February 3 - 24, 2018
Overview

On Saturday, February  3rd, 2018 Mira Godard Gallery was pleased to open a survey exhibition of works on paper by TAKAO TANABE. The works, spanning 55 years, are directly from the artist's archives.

TAKAO TANABE has been an important figure in Canadian painting and printmaking for almost seven decades. Born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia in 1926, TAKAO TANABE studied in Canada, Europe, the United States and Japan. Following a decade as head of the art program and artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre, he returned to British Columbia in 1980 where he lives and works.

TAKAO TANABE's work is in numerous international, public, corporate and private collections including: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; Art Gallery of Ontario; Canada Council Art Bank; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton; National Gallery of Canada; Tate Museum, U.K.; Vancouver Art Gallery; Borden, Ladner, Gervais; Four Seasons Hotels; Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd.; Scotiabank; UBS Canada Inc.

Tanabe is the recipient of several honorary degrees and awards including Order of British Columbia (1993); Order of Canada (Member, 1999); the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2003) and Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts (2013).

In 2005, the retrospective Takao Tanabe was organized by Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and Vancouver Art Gallery and toured nationally. In 2011, the traveling exhibition: Chronicles of Form and Place: Works on Paper by Takao Tanabe was organized by the Burnaby Art Gallery, and McMaster Museum of Art. In 2016, the exhibition Takao Tanabe - Sumie: Ink Brush Paintings was featured at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, Burnaby, British Columbia.

TAKAO TANABE has been represented by Mira Godard Gallery for over 55 years.

Installation Views
Works
  • blue sky by takao tanabe
    TAKAO TANABE
    Blue Sky, 2007
    acrylic on paper
    23 1/4 x 31 1/4 in.
  • cedar II by takao tanabe
    TAKAO TANABE
    Cedar II, 1993
    graphite on paper
    27 3/4 x 36 in.
  • inside passage, stephen island by takao tanabe
    Takao Tanabe, Inside Passage, Stephen Island, 2007
  • TAKAO TANABE Persimmons, Tokyo, 1959 sumi ink and watercolour on paper 12 x 19 in.
    TAKAO TANABE
    Persimmons, Tokyo, 1959
    sumi ink and watercolour on paper
    12 x 19 in.
  • TAKAO TANABE Marsh Magenta, 1964 acrylic on paper 30 3/4 x 23 in.
    TAKAO TANABE
    Marsh Magenta, 1964
    acrylic on paper
    30 3/4 x 23 in.