Crossing the Strait, Sunset

Provenance:
Private Collection, Vancouver
Notes:
Takao Tanabe grew up in the small fishing village of Seal Cove, now part of Prince Rupert, on British Columbia’s northern coast, the son of a commercial fisherman. His family was interned along with other coastal residents of Japanese heritage during the Second World War, but when the war was over, Tanabe headed to the Winnipeg School of Art. His studies then progressed to the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and the Brooklyn Museum Art School. During this time he established himself as an abstract painter and expanded his horizons by visiting museums. In 1959, he traveled to Japan to learn painting techniques with Ikuo Hirayama. Tanabe returned to Vancouver in 1961, having decided that, in every way, he was a Westerner.

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After a stint living in New York in the late 1960s, Tanabe accepted a position at the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1973 as head of the painting division and artist-in-residence. He continued to paint, and his prairie landscapes rode the edge between abstraction and representation. But by 1980, Tanabe wanted to devote himself full time to his painting, and he returned to British Columbia, buying an acreage near Parksville, on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

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Tanabe had returned to the misty, transcendental landscapes of his youth, and he took a new approach to his subjects to capture the effects of light and weather. Tanabe’s style is one of reductive realism; he simplifies his landscapes and depicts nature without any human presence. He has stated that he eschewed visible brush marks, applying many transparent layers of paint to achieve a floating effect. In this canvas, his brushwork is smooth, effortless and elegant.

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Crossing the Strait, Sunset is a majestic painting; the wide panorama creates a sense of awe as the viewer is transfixed by the contrast between the sunset glow of light on the horizon and the dark cloud forms stretching above it. Tanabe’s landscapes foster introspection – he makes you feel that you are the only person in the world contemplating a landscape that could be from any time. The artist’s sense of light is truly extraordinary, from the rich orange staining the sky to the ethereal pale blue of the firmament. There is enough reflected light to see the fine pattern of rippling waves on the opaque, steely surface of the ocean. Although we only see the surface patterning, we sense the abyss of the ocean depths beneath. The palpable mass of the black and charcoal clouds is dramatic—portending the oncoming shadowy night. The illusion of stillness in the clouds is offset by spatters on the right top floating away from the main cloud bank, creating a drifting motion. In Crossing the Strait, Sunset, Tanabe shows his mastery of mood and atmosphere, finding the universal in the particulars of his stunning coastal subject.