Born Takao Izumi in Seal Cove, today part of Prince Rupert, British Columbia,[1] the son of a commercial fisherman, where he was the fifth of seven children.
[4] Tanabe received an Emily Carr Scholarship that same year; the news was delivered to him in a phone call from Lawren Harris.
Throughout the 1960s, he became well-established in the Vancouver art world and continued to exhibit his work across Canada, painting more large-scale murals in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina, and Edmonton.
He is considered today a painter who primarily evokes the landscape of British Columbia in minimalist but detailed paintings.
[10] In 2014, Tanabe said: ...I try to avoid brush marks so that it looks as though the paint has just floated on...[11]At the Heffel auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art, May 23, 2024, Lot 004, Nootka 1/91: in Hanna Channel, acrylic on canvas, 27 x 59 in, 68.6 x 149.9 cm, Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000 CAD, Sold for: $451,250 (including Buyer's Premium).