Takao Tanabe: Printmaker exhibition at Surrey Art Gallery spans celebrated Canadian artist's 75-year career
Comprehensive display of painter-printmaker’s works highlights his signature abstracts, his iconic West Coast landscapes, and his unique merging of the two
Takao Tanabe’s 1993 woodblock print on paper Nootka Afternoon. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Image courtesy Vancouver Art Gallery
Surrey Art Gallery presents Takao Tanabe: Printmaker to June 2
IN THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE look at Takao Tanabe’s prints to date, the painter and master printmaker’s woodblock prints are being exhibited together for the first time, along with dozens of other works at the Surrey Art Gallery.
“No other Canadian artist has produced woodblocks of this scale and quality,” says Ian Thom, the guest curator behind the Takao Tanabe: Printmaker exhibition. “Tanabe was always willing to push the boundaries.”
The works exhibited span Tanabe’s career, from 1948 linocuts to landscape prints done just last year, totalling over 60 pieces. The works were compiled from the collections of the Kelowna Art Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. This iteration of the exhibition also features pieces from the Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection.
Tanabe was born in Seal Cove, B.C. in 1926, but was displaced during the Second World War, along with 22,000 other Japanese Canadians sent to internment camps by the Canadian government, according to the Art Canada Institute. Years and a few manual labour jobs later, Tanabe signed up for a sign-painting class at the Winnipeg School of Art. He went on to study at the Brooklyn Museum Art School before returning to B.C. to continue his career in art.
Tanabe has developed a distinct style in both painting and printmaking over the years. He is most known for his geometric and abstract pieces, and his West Coast landscapes that capture the serene beauty of the sky and the water—and his unique merging of the two.
“His earlier more abstract prints are amongst the most challenging in Canadian art,” says Thom, “and the later landscape prints are amongst the most brilliant images in Canadian printmaking. He is a painter and printmaker of the first order.”
A large series of woodblock prints Tanabe did in collaboration with Masato Arikushi, a Japanese block cutter and printer, exemplifies this for Thom: “His collaboration with Arikushi was truly extraordinary.”
Other featured works include Prairie Storm, a landscape that incorporates ink hand-brushing techniques, and a series of later prints that only exist as single copies, but were extremely challenging to print, Thom explains.
Takao Tanabe’s Prairie Storm, 1976/2003, lithograph and acrylic wash on paper. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Photo by Vancouver Art Gallery
While curating the exhibition, Thom discovered two early “forgotten” prints Tanabe had done while studying in Winnipeg, which are being exhibited as well.
Tanabe is not only a Canadian art icon, but an advocate in the space. His efforts led to the creation of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, Thom says, which are the most prestigious distinctions for artists in Canada.
He was also an important force in establishing the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts, and has provided prizes in his own name—like the Tanabe Prize, which is awarded to a B.C. painter each year.
“These efforts have been crucial to many other artists in Canada,” says Thom, adding that he hopes through the exhibition, visitors will appreciate the enormous range and skill of Tanabe’s work. 
Related Articles
