Ernestine Tahedl - Colour Tones: Tone Colours

November 4 - 18
Opening Reception: November 4, 1-3 PM
Artist in Attendance

This collection of 10 new paintings is the culmination of six decades of work, experimentation, and refinement. It builds on the extended series of music paintings which has achieved international recognition.

Tahedl is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Governor General’s 125th Anniversary medal, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Letters Award from the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. She is an elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and has an extensive international exhibition history. Her work is in numerous public, private, and corporate collections around the globe.

Ernestine Tahedl is an internationally celebrated artist. Her work over the last six decades has contributed to visual culture throughout North America and Europe. This collection of recent paintings is a culmination of her experience. They build on an extended series of paintings based on music. This musical inspiration is a catalyst to show the artist’s unparalleled understanding of colour, technique and composition. Tahedl accomplishes powerful, expressive synesthetic responses that encapsulate the emotional resonance of music from the romantic era. After spending a few minutes with any one of Tahedl’s works from this exhibition it is clear that what appears on first view as lush, intuitive gestures of brushwork is a thoroughly considered act of mark making that has taken decades to develop. There are a variety of techniques of paint application and reduction. Bold sweeps of the brush are set against tight line work. Sections will have paint scrubbed away to allow greater impact of other markings. These all create harmony in the visual impact of each painting. Like every note in a symphony; every mark has a clear purpose.

From the 1960s onwards, the relationship of colours has been an inspiration to Tahedl. As a young artist completing her masters degree in Vienna, she developed under the influences of post war abstract expressionism. After immigrating to Canada in the 1960s the pendulum swung to hard edge painting and we see this influence in the style of her large scale glass sculptures. Layers of coloured glass highlight the potential luminosity of colour and the way they change when overlapped or placed in relation to other colours. It is the artist’s awareness of these relationships that allows for the emotive quality of her paintings featured in this exhibition. The tone and saturation of colour are all considered and it takes a master’s hand to achieve this in such a concise manner.

The exhibition’s title is especially appropriate. Tone Colours : Colours Tones perfectly summarises this collection. The paintings are united by the relationship of these two qualities . They undulate between one informing the other and vice versa. However both are required to achieve visual rhythm and overall harmony. It is these qualities that provide the emotional resonance which makes Tahedl’s work exceptional.