Takao Tanabe: Sumie Ink Brush Paintings

Curated by Sherri Kajiwara

Sumie is often translated as brush painting, ink wash painting, or Japanese ink painting. In 1959, in part funded by a Canada Council artist grant, Canadian-born painter Takao Tanabe visited Japan for the very first time. For two years, he studied with sumie and calligraphy masters in Tokyo. Although celebrated across Canada for his seminal landscapes with low horizons, primarily focusing on the west coast of Canada, Tanabe’s sumie paintings display a confident delicacy of technique, exploring both traditional Japanese subject matter and abstraction.

Exhibit catalogue, February 13 - May 8, 2016.