Edna Taçon became a prominent figure in Toronto during the 1940s, where she had a crucial impact on the development of abstract painting. Described as “Canada’s leading proponent of non-objective art,” she split her time between Toronto and New York, where her practice was in step with leading avant-garde artists.

Trained as a professional violinist, Taçon was influenced by the teachings of Wassily Kandinsky. Her understanding of music intertwined with her study of abstraction. She described her painting as an arena in which “verve and decorum collide” and where “unexpected devices of design dash into a bright rhythm.” While pursuing her radical art, she navigated societal barriers and a profound entanglement of her identity as a musician, artist, and woman in a male-dominated field.

Accompanying an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, EDNA TAÇON features twenty-four of Taçon’s rarely seen oil paintings, watercolours, and paper collages, along with archival sketches, correspondence, and photographs of the artist. The publication also includes an essay by curator Renée van der Avoird and an interview with the artist’s grandson, contemporary sculptor Carl Taçon.