Miyuki Tanobe

Born in Morioka, Japan on December 20, 1937. Her first name Miyuki means "deep snow," as there was a violent snowstorm on the day she was born.

Miyuki Tanobe studied from the age of 11 with Itaru Tanabe, a great master of oil painting. The renowned Chou Ota personally took charge of the young student. In 1959, Miyuki Tanobe graduated as a professor of drawing and painting from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. She became a student of Seison Maida, the undisputed master of Nihonga. In 1960-61, Miyuki Tanobe held her very first exhibitions and was accepted by INTIN (Salon d'Automne de la peinture Nihonga à Tokyo). In 1962 and 1963, she worked at the La Grande Chaumière studio in Paris. In 1963, Miyuki enrolled at the École Supérieure Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and studied with master Chapelain Midy. In 1966, Miyuki Tanobe returned to Japan. She settled in Montreal in 1971, following her meeting with Maurice Savignac. She fell in love with the city's working-class neighborhoods, which she depicts with humor and attention to detail.

Among the accolades received throughout her career, Miyuki Tanobe received the Canada Council Prize in 1981 for her illustration of Gilles Vigneault's poem "Les gens de mon pays." In 1994, she was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and was elected Officer of the National Order of Quebec the following year. In 1999, the Royal Canadian Mint asked her to illustrate a 50-cent collector's coin, "Les petits sauteux," as part of the Celebration of Quebec Folklore and Legends series. In 2002, the Quebec Government Office in Paris selected one of her paintings, along with those of Riopelle, M.-A. Fortin, and Derouin, for its dinnerware set. That same year, she became a member of the Order of Canada and was awarded the Order of the Jubilee.