In Yorkville’s Mira Godard Gallery, a special and rare commemoration of one of their longest and well-known artists is on the horizon. This May, the gallery will be putting on the Takao Tanabe 100th Birthday Exhibition, in celebration of Canadian artist Takao Tanabe.
Tanabe, a decades-long visual arts advocate and influence on young artists in Canada, is deeply regarded as a leading figure in landscape art. The gallery’s 100th birthday celebration marks a century since his birth.
Born in 1926 in Seal Cove, B.C., Tanabe later attended the Winnipeg School of Art and then went on to work in New York where he learned from abstract expressionists like Hans Hoffmann at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School.
In the 1950s, he continued studying in London, England until he eventually found his way to Japan, to study at the University of Fine Arts. In the 1950s and ’60s, he made his way through the U.S., honing in on his landscape painting skills before he worked for Emily Carr University of Art and Design (formerly known as the Vancouver School of Art).
He’s received multiple honours over the years, including the Order of Canada in 1999, the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2003 and the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts in 2013.
The Mira Godard Gallery has represented the abstract painter and printmaker’s works for nearly 55 years. In 1971, Mira Godard Gallery offered Tanabe a monthly stipend for exclusive rights to his paintings. The anniversary marks their partnership with the artist, as well as Tanabe’s legacy.
Some of his major works have landed him exhibitions such as Takao Tanabe at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2005.
At the current Mira Godard Gallery Tanabe exhibition, you can find the artist’s paintings and printwork, with some directly from his studio, specifically sent to the gallery for public viewing. His works are focused on British Columbian landscapes as well as scenes of the Prairies.
The Takao Tanabe 100th Birthday Exhibition will be open May 2 to June 27. You can visit the gallery at 22 Hazelton Ave.
