​​​​​​​B A C K G R O U N D

1926  Born: October 15, Yakima, Washington

1942  Displaced: Interned by the U.S. Government's War Relocation Authority for Japanese-American ancestry.

1943 Enlisted: Joins the United States Army, stationed in Italy, 1945

1948  Enrolled: Moholy-Nagy's New Chicago Bauhaus  – Institute of Design at IIT, Chicago

1952  Bachelor of Arts in Visual Design, Institute of Design - IIT, Chicago: Student of Harry Callahan: photography, John Walley and Richard Dobby

1952-63 Graphic Designer / Typographer: worked for various design studios 

1963-73  Professor:  University of Illinois at Chicago:  School of Art and Design: Taught: Communications Design, Undergrad & Graduate Programs

1974-75  Professor:  North Carolina State University, School of Design: Taught: Communications Design, Undergrad & Graduate Programs

1976-96  Professor:  University of Illinois at Chicago: School of Art and Design: Taught: Communications Design, Undergrad & Graduate Programs

1982-93  Invented & Produced:The "Bigs" Robotic Machine and create one-of-a-kind "cybergram" photographic, gelatin silver, fiber prints

2010  Deceased: May 22, Chicago, IL 


E X H I B I T I O N S / M U S E U M  A C Q U I S I T I O N S

2024  Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL                                                                                                                                                  Tadao Takakano cybergram™ photography acquisition (April 2024 ) to permanent collection

2024  DPAM: Depaul Art Museum,  Chicago, IL                                                                                                                                                                         Tadao Takakano cybergram™ photography acquisition to permanent collection

2023  University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada:                                                                                                                                        Tadao Takakano cybergram™ photography acquisition to permanent collection

2020  J. PAUL GETTY Museum, Los Angeles, CA  Tadao Takakano cybergram™ photography acquisition to permanent collection


2017 - 2018  Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung: November 2017 to March 5, 2018: Berlin, Germany                                                                     Abstract nude photographs shown in the exhibit:  NEW CHICAGO BAUHAUS: EXPERIMENT PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM. 

Tadao Takakano cybergram™ photography acquisition to permanent collecton.

​2016 - 2017 Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art:
December 9, 2016 - January 29, 2017, Chicago, IL

The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art presented the museum’s second collaboration with the Bauhaus Chicago Foundation,

CUBISM COLLAGE CYBERGRAMS CONCRETE:4 Artists from Moholy-Nagy’s School.” This exhibition, curated by T. Paul Young, is rooted

in the founding of the New Bauhaus which formally opened its doors in 1937 at the renovated Marshall Field mansion on the near south side

of Chicago. This new school, directed by former Bauhaus Master László Moholy-Nagy, began a powerful and dynamic new chapter within

Chicago’s art, design and educational community. The four gifted artists exhibited here, Alexander Corazzo, Gretchen Schoeninger Corazzo,

Robert Nickle and Tadao Takano, are among many from Moholy-Nagy’s school whose work has received only rare exposure to a

broad public audience.


​2016 Photo Independent:  AprilThe International Exhibition of CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPY,  Los Angeles, CA

2016  Fabrik Expo: Janurary 29- 31The Exhibition of ART, DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE, Los Angeles, CA  


2014  Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art: Chicago, August 9 - Sept 29: Chicago's Bauhaus Legacy. Exhibition curated by 

T. Paul Young and Stanislav Grezdo; this museum exhibition was created in partnership with the Bauhaus Chicago Foundation 
and featured works by some one hundred students and teachers of Moholy-Nagy's New Bauhaus / Institute of Design. Tad Takano's 
work is represented in the permanent collections of the Bauhaus Chicago Foundation and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 
Chicago. In addition, his work is represented in many distinguished private collections. Takano is also represented in the artist's 
Archive of the Chicago Public Library. Chicago, IL


1992  GALLERY 400, Parallel EnvironmentsUniversity of Illinois at Chicago, Faculty Group Show  Chicago, IL

1988
 Fairweather Hardin Gallery: Drawing with Light, Chicago, IL 

A one man show featuring Takano's cybergram prints.



P U B L I C A T I O N S ,  A R T I C L E S   A  N  D   P O S T S

1984-86  Cover Designs; Design Issues periodical, MIT Press: Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1984,  Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 1984

Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 1985,  Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 1985 /  Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 1986


1986 Design Issues Periodical;  Six Cybergrams illustrated:  pages 78-84  Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 1986, MIT Press


1989 Article by Alan Artner;"Pioneering Art Shows Unique Expression," Chicago Tribune, October 21, 1988


1989 Article "89 People to Watch in 1989," by the Style staff, Chicago Tribune, Style Section 7, Wed. January 4, 1989


2006  Richard Buchanan, Dennis Doordan, Victor Margolin, "Twenty Two Years of Pluralistic Discourse, August 2006, MIT Press


2013 Exhibition catalogChicago's Bauhaus Legacy, Volume 2  


2014 Design Issues, Volume 30, Number 2, Spring 2014, MIT Press,  The introduction refers to Tad Takano's typographic cybergrams.


2015 Pinterest Website: MIT Press noted Design Issues covers by Tad Takano, along with renowned designers, Massimo Vignelli,

Katherine McCoy and Michael Beirut. 


2020 An Enduring Friendship and the Legacy of a Pioneering Artist 

https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/an-enduring-friendship-and-the-legacy-of-a-pioneering-artist/
A new Getty photograph acquisition reveals early digital art by Tadao Takano by ALEXANDRIA SIVAK | JUNE 9, 2020