Biography

Ernestine Tahedl

            Ernestine Tahedl was born and educated in Austria and received a Master’s Degree in graphic art from the Vienna Academy of Applied Arts.  Following graduation in 1961, she collaborated with her father, Professor Heinrich Tahedl, in the design and execution of stained glass commissions until she immigrated to Canada in 1963.  Her studio is in King City, Ontario.  Her work is represented in public, corporate and private collections and galleries in Canada, United States, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Japan.  Her awards include the Graduation Prize of the Austrian Government 1961, the Bronze Medal of the Vienna International Exhibition of Paintings 1963, the Allied Arts Medal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 1966, and a Purchase Award, Concourse Artistique du Quebec 1966.  In 1967 she received a Canada Council Arts Award, in 1999 the Mayor’s Prize at Kyoto ’99, Kyoto, Japan, and in 2000 the Kobe Sun Prize at Flora Art 2000 at Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan.  She was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1977 and of the Ontario Society of Artists 1984. She received the Governor General’s Canada 125^th Anniversary Medal in 1993. She was the recipient of the Arts and Letters Award from the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto in 2000, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the Elmore Besen Award from the OSA in 2014. She was invited to participate in the Biennale Internazionale dell’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy in 2003. She received the President’s Medal of the Ontario Society of Artists in 2006 and was awarded 2016, Golden Decoration of Honour for services to the Republic of Austria . The Varley Art Gallery of Markham organized and presented a Retrospective 1946-2006, curated by Katerina Atanassova, Curator, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, in 2006. This Retrospective travelled to several centers in Ontario: the John B Aird Gallery in Toronto, the Durham Art Gallery and the Georgina Arts Centre & Gallery.  Tickle Scratch Productions produced a film for the Bravo television series: “The Artist’s Life: Ernestine Tahedl” under the direction of Michael Glassbourg in 2007. A Solo exhibition: Ernestine Tahedl “OPUS- Works 1946-2012” took place in St. Poelten, Lower Austria at the Niederösterreichischen Documentations Zentrum für Moderne Kunst, September of 2012, in Zagreb, Croatia, at Moderna Galerija in November 2012. In 2013 a shows of recent works took place in the Kulturforum of Austria in Bratislava, Slovakia and at the KULTUREBENE, Schloss Pöggstall, Lower Austria in July 2014.In 2015  Tahedl participated  in the Group show: 10 Jahre  Mitteleuropa -/ Donauraumausstellungszyklus ”FERNE NÄHE” Stift Lilienfeld, Austria. In 2016 her work with her Fathers work is shown in a large exhibition in the Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria under the title: Heinrich Tahedl / Ernestine Tahedl Versammelte Werke. 2016, 9 Mosaic panels by Ernestine Tahedl commissioned 1965 that were reclaimed from the Canada Post office formerly on site are now part of the new Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton Alberta. In 2017 an exhibition titled “Locus Iste – Anton Bruckner- Musik in Bildern” of recent paintings was held in the Monastery of St Florian, Austria. The “Bilderzyklus Anton Bruckner” was shown in the Festsaal of the Bishops Palace, Linz, Upper Austria from 2018 to 2019. 2022, an exhibition inspired by the Canadian landscape , titled Canada Series was held in Vienna on the occasion of the 70- year anniversary of bilateral relations between Austria and Canada.