Takao Tanabe THE LAND Lithograph, Signed Edition.

Artist/Designer; Manufacturer: Takao Tanabe (b. 1926)
Marking(s); notes: signed; ed. 73/75; 1973
Country of origin; materials: Canadian; lithograph
Dimensions (H, W, D): 17"h, 22.75"w
27"h, 32.75"w frame

Acquired from Palm Beach Modern Auction in 2023. Additional Information: Lithograph is titled "The Land, Interiors." Provenance: Tupperware Brands Corporate Collection, Orlando, Florida.

About the Artist

Canadian [b. 1926]

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts

Born in Prince Rupert, BC, Takao Tanabe, the son of a commercial fisherman, spent his summers at fishing camps along the Skeena River. After a period of internment as a "Japanese alien" during WWII, Tanabe began his artistic training with Joseph Plaskett in 1946, attending the Winnipeg School of Art from 1946 to1949. Subsequently, he continued his studies at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, New York (1951-52); The Banff School of Fine Arts (1953); the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London (1953); and the Tokyo University of Arts (1959-61).

After a twenty-five year career as an acclaimed abstract painter and with an international exhibition schedule than spanned from Vancouver to Montréal; São Paulo to Paris and New York; Cologne to Tokyo, Takao Tanabe progressed into one of Canada's foremost landscape painters. He began to think about the shift to landscape in the late 1960s. He made his first prairie painting in New York in 1972, the consequence of an acute awareness and observation of the landscape while hitchhiking across the prairies, the first of several such trips he made beginning in 1951. In 1972 Tanabe was offered a summer job teaching at the Banff Centre, and rather than fly to Banff, he drove from Winnipeg. He took his time, observing intensely, and made sketches as he slowly moved through the vast and subtle prairie space. The sketches turned into paintings: Tanabe had arrived.

Takao Tanabe is one of Canada's most important contemporary landscape painters, with an exhibition history now in its seventh decade, and a distinguished career as an arts educator and advocate. Tanabe was involved with the Banff School of Fine Arts (now the Banff Centre) from 1973-1980, where he headed the Art Department and was an artist-in-residence, bringing a new vitality and vision to the program. He moved to Vancouver Island in 1980. He is a member of the Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

He has received numerous awards for his work which can be found in many public collections including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa); Vancouver Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; Art Gallery of Ontario; Glenbow Museum (Calgary); McMaster Museum of Art (Hamilton); and Tate Museum (U.K.). In 2005, a national touring retrospective of Takao Tanabe's work was organized jointly by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Over the course of his career, Tanabe evolved from an abstract painter to a landscape painter, developing a minimalist style that is uniquely his own. A Tanabe landscape strips away non-essential details, creating serene compositions that reward long, contemplative viewing. His works are appreciated for their transcendent light and atmosphere, with images that fluctuate from delicate and misty to stormy and brooding.


Condition:
Alterations: Original Condition Unaltered
Imperfections: Some Imperfections
Condition Notes: Excellent used condition. Few signs of wear from age and use. Very good, toning in margins, not examined outside frame (condition of art only)

Dimensions:
Height: 17 in.
Width: 22.75 in.
Depth: 1 in.

Category: Original Prints
Origin: Canada
Materials: Lithograph, Plexiglass, Wood

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Location: This item ships from Denver, CO

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Original Condition Unaltered; Some Imperfections; Excellent used condition. Few signs of wear from age and use. Very good, toning in margins, not examined outside frame (condition of art only)