Edwin Tanner Works 1952-1979

About the exhibition
This major retrospective of Edwin Tanner (1920–1980) brought together over 120 works, marking ten years since the artist’s passing. Long regarded as a nonconformist by nature, Tanner came to prominence as a painter during the 1950s, producing a body of work that defies easy categorisation within the stylistic tendencies of Australian modernism.

Writing for the exhibition catalogue, curator Jenepher Duncan vividly captures Tanner's unusual path through life and art:

A late Curriculum Vitae of Edwin Tanner lists, after his six professional qualifications (not including three for Carpentry and Joinery), his various lives as ‘Consulting Engineer, Painter, Poet, Philosopher and Writer of Short Stories.’ These are followed by the description ‘At various times Champion Track Cyclist, Champion Marksman, A Grade Cricketer and Civil Pilot’—a total of nine identified lives. Tanner’s art has always been approached with due regard to these achievements, existences, interests, possibly because Tanner himself made constant reference to them but also because these sources formed the fabric of his art.

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^{Image: Edwin Tanner, Iron Monarch 1957–70, oil on composition board, 179 x 121 cm. Private collection}