Norman Takeuchi

×

Expand

Norman Takeuchi, “Meeting Place,” 2005

acrylic on canvas, 30" x 36" (private collection of Alana Kainz, photo by Justin Wonnacott)

In 1942, the Takeuchi family – five-year-old Norman, his two younger brothers and their parents – were forced from their Vancouver home and moved by authorities to the tiny settlement of Westwold in the British Columbia Interior. For the next seven years, the family moved from one small B.C. community to another, trying to eke out a living. Finally, in 1949, they were allowed to return to Vancouver.

The Takeuchis were among the 22,000 Canadians of Japanese descent on the West Coast who were stripped of their livelihoods and possessions and relocated inland, many to internment camps, following Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

As Takeuchi grew up, he was determined to become an artist rather than joining his father in a gardening business. He attended the Vancouver School of Art, won awards and experimented with Pop Art and various forms of abstraction. In 1965, he showed a semi-abstract, Interior with Two Women, at the Sixth Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting at the National Gallery of Canada. The painting is as chillingly discomfiting as the misshapen nudes of British figurative painter Francis Bacon.

×

Expand

“Shapes in Between: Norman Takeuchi – A Retrospective,” 2023

installation view at Ottawa Art Gallery (photo by Rémi Thériault)

The stories of Takeuchi’s life and the evolution of his art are told in a sprawling and lovingly crafted exhibition, Shapes in Between: Norman Takeuchi – A Retrospective, on view until Aug. 27 at the Ottawa Art Gallery. The gallery’s deputy director, Catherine Sinclair, led the curatorial team that explored Takeuchi’s oeuvre in painting, design and graphic art from his student days to the present.

Back in the 1960s, Takeuchi’s career seemed ready to take off. He experimented with abstract expressionism and other “isms” of the day. But something held him back – he had not yet found his style and voice.

×

Expand

Norman Takeuchi, “Celestial Guardian No. 3,” 2009

acrylic on canvas, 48" x 73" x 2" (collection of the Ottawa Art Gallery; gift of the artist, 2010; photo by Justin Wonnacott)

Then, in 1995, Takeuchi saw an exhibition of exquisite kimonos crafted by Japanese artist Itchiku Kubota at what is now the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.

“I was so knocked out by this and thought, ‘This is a Japanese person doing this kind of work,’” Takeuchi said in an interview at his Ottawa home. “He is so revered in Japan for the work he did, he was considered a living treasure.” 

Takeuchi’s attitudes towards all things Japanese began to change. 

“It made me feel quite proud,” he says. “At some point, I started thinking about my heritage and, maybe, I should incorporate it into my work. I got tired of thinking I am a second-class citizen, and there are positive things about being Japanese, and that I should consider that more seriously and give myself some self-esteem.”

×

Expand

Norman Takeuchi, “Hastings Park,” 2006

acrylic, conté, oil pastel and photo transfer on shaped paper support, 58" x 52" (collection of the Canadian War Museum, photo by Justin Wonnacott)

Kimonos, geishas, fierce masks and overt autobiographical references started appearing in Takeuchi’s work, alongside Canadian scenes.

In 1996, he created a series of five life-sized paper kimonos called A Measured Act, a play on the War Measures Act, the federal legislation used to exile the Takeuchis and other Japanese Canadians. Text and photographs exploring the treatment of Japanese Canadians are imprinted on the painted kimonos. One piece, Hastings Park, recalls the barns of the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver, where Japanese Canadians were housed in stables.

A Measured Act was acquired by the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa on the recommendation of Laura Brandon, the museum’s former art curator. “I liked the fact the work referenced the past militarily and culturally while also speaking to contemporary audiences in its approach,” says Brandon.

For much of his life, Takeuchi worked as a designer and graphic artist for the federal government, including assignments at Montreal’s Expo 67 and Expo 70 in Osaka. For many years, he helped design exhibitions and promotional materials for the Canadian Museum of Nature. Examples of this work are included in the show. 

×

Expand

Norman Takeuchi, “View of Mount Fuji from Lemon Creek,” 2012-2018

acrylic on canvas, 48" x 72" (courtesy of the artist, photo by Justin Wonnacott)

Finally, in 1996, Takeuchi started painting full time, exhibiting frequently in the Ottawa area. He settled into a unique style that features Canadian and Japanese iconography amid swirling clouds of red, blue or black, reflecting the tensions and barriers in his story.

Many of these paintings also include scenes from Japanese Canadian internment. Takeuchi has not forgotten the past. But he has learned to make peace with it and now, in his 80s, he soars confidently, like a bird freed from a cage. ■

Shapes in Between: Norman Takeuchi – A Retrospective on view at the Ottawa Art Gallery from April 1 to Aug. 27, 2023. Curated by Catherine Sinclair, Sachiko Okuda and Bryce Kanbara.

PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.