Modern Japanese Ceramics Pottery Contemporary
By Appointment is best. You might get lucky just popping by, but a great deal of the month I am out visiting artists or scouring up new items, so days in the gallery are limited.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Porcelain : Contemporary item #1487760 (stock #MC660)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
Playful imagery shines vibrant on this white porcelain tea bowl by female artist Takahashi Aki enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Gold Sai Chawan. It is 12 cm (5 inches) diameter, 8 cm (3 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Takahashi Aki was born in Kyoto in 1976 and graduated from Saga prefectural Arita College of Ceramics in 1999. In 2003 she was first awarded at the the 2nd Developing Young Artist Craft Competition, before going on to further study. In 2006 she completed training at the Kyoto prefectural Polytechnic School of Ceramics. She has since been selected for The Takaoka Craft Competition, then the Itami International Craft Competition as well as the Tanabe Contemporary Tea ceremony Exhibition. In 2012 her work was featured in the Kagayaki e no Shotai exhibition in Takashimaya Kyoto store, and the following year at the Japan-Korea Ceramic art Exchange (Gyeongsangbuk-do). Again in 2016 she was exhibited in the Gyeonggi Arts Center.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Porcelain : Contemporary item #1464427 (stock #1942)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
Sold, Thank you!
An elegant porcelain incense burner of draped form by porcelain master Kubota Yasuyoshi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Seihakuji Ryusen -mon Koro. It is 15.5 cm (6 inches) to the top of the finial and is in excellent condition.
Kubota Yasuyoshi was born in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto on the Southern Island of Kyushu in 1952. He was awarded top prize at the Yamaguchi Ceramics Exhibition in 1982, and since has been awarded at the National Ceramics Exhibition as well as the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition among many others.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Vases : Contemporary item #1350890 (stock #969)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
Sold, Thank you
A proud form of a fulling block inscribed with a wave pattern in the raw clay of the base and covered in ame-yu glaze by Inoue Toya enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 9-1/2 inches (24 cm) tall, 6 inches (15 cm) diameter and in excellent condition.
Inoue Toya (1942-2013), graduated the prestigious Nihon Daigaku in 1966, having spent his student years excavating ancient Karatsu shards and researching their techniques. He apprenticed under the multifaceted potter Nushi Ensai. In 1969 he opened his own kiln. He served as head of the Karatsu Ceramic Cooperative from 1983-2010 while focusing on private exhibitions held at Department stores and galleries throughout Japan. In 2008 his lifetime achievements were recognized with a private exhibition in Los Angeles.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Vases : Contemporary item #1381017 (stock #826)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
A spectacular faceted work by Ueda Mitsuharu enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shigaraki Mentori Kabin. It is 9 x 11 x 11 inches (28 x 24 x 28 cm) and is in excellent condition.
Born in Fukuoka in 1957, and studied initially pottery in Tamba under Ogami Tsuyoshi before entering the Kyoto Prefectural Ceramic Research Facility, which he finished in 1983 followed by a year studying glazes in the Shiga Prefectural Kiln. That same year he entered the Koga Tea Culture Research place (Koga Sado Bunka Kenkyusho) and came under the influence of Koga Kenzo. In 1987 he came to study under Ueda Naokata, and has since taken over that kiln, becoming the 6th Naokata.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Porcelain : Pre 1980 item #1399710 (stock #1305)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
A menagerie of 12 comic creatures grin back at us as we pour another cup of sake from this Tokkuri decorated by world renowned woodblock artist and painter Clifton Karhu enclosed in the original wooden box also decorated on all facets with the same humorous creatures as well as a self portrait on the lid captioned EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY. It is 17.5 cm (7 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Clifton Karhu (1927-2007) had his first introduction to Japanese living stationed in Sasebo during the occupation from 1946 to 1948, and returned not long after graduating the Minneapolis Art University to spend many years as a missionary before he took up art as his modicum. Although he had participated in painting exhibitions, it was after his move to Kyoto in 1963 that he began working with woodblocks, for which he is most remembered. There he would remain, for nearly half a century, creating some of the most quintessential and recognizable prints of the 20th century.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Vases : Contemporary item #1404273 (stock #1347)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, with thanks!
Celadon is all about form, and here Yagi Akira has nailed it with this expertly executed elegant shape composed of 2 interlocking pieces covered in green celadon glaze and enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kakushaku (literally horn scoop). It is 4-3/4 inches (14.5 cm) tall and in excellent condition.
This name is a must have in any collection of modern Japanese Pottery. Akira was born in Kyoto in 1955, son of avant garde Yagi Kazuo (1918-1979) one of the founding members of Sodeisha. Akira was voted one of the 20 most important living artists by Honoho, Japans premier printed ceramic forum. Works by the artist are held in the British Museum, Victoria Albert Museum, Cleveland Art Museum, Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian and Tokyo Muesum of Modern Art among many others. He was also the recipient of the Japan Ceramic Society (JCS) award in 1998, one in a long and prestigious list of awards.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Bowls : Contemporary item #1451052 (stock #1535)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, with thanks!
A very elegant swirling bowl inflated like a balloon in dark lapis with applied silver basin by rising female star Takemura Yuri enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Sora Fune (Air Ship). It is 13.5 cm (just less than 6 inches) diameter, from 4.5 to 7.5 cm (2-3 inches) tall at the high end and in excellent condition, dating circa 2017.
Takemura Yuri was born in Nagoya, Aichi prefecture in 1980, daughter of a graphic designer. She came to ceramics after first working with oil paints. Frustrated at the two dimensional limitations of the canvas, the free form of pottery was a perfect medium to express her sense of design. She graduated the ceramics department of the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Art in 2004, then was accepted as an artist in residence at the Shiga Prefectural Togei no Mori Ceramics Research Facility, where she stayed until 2006. Again, she moved to the Udatsuyama Ceramic center in Kanazawa city until 2009, and remains in that area today. She has been awarded at the National Crafts Exhibition, the Kikuchi Bienale, the Kanazawa Crafts Exhibition and the International Mino Exhibition (Kokusai Tojikiten Mino). Work by her is held in the Aichi Prefectural Ceramics Museum, The Kanazawa 21st Century Museum, as well as the Portland Art Museum among others.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Contemporary item #1463321 (stock #1930)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, with thanks!
Thick white feldspathic glaze tinged with flickers of color covers this sake flask by Kato Kozo enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shino Tokkuri. It is 13.3 cm (just over 5 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Kato Kozo was born in 1935, and studied under the Mino Legend and Designated Living National Treasure Arakawa Toyozo. He has been widely exhibited both domestically and abroad and like his mentor Kozo was named a Living National Treasure in 2010, a tribute to a life spent reviving and defending the Mino traditions. Work by him is held in the National Museums of Modern Art, both Tokyo and Kyoto as well as the Victoria & Albert Museum among others
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Vases : Contemporary item #1468885 (stock #MC035)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
A fabulous Shigaraki Tsubo of austere form blasted with natural ash glaze by Otani Shiro enclosed in the original signed wooden box. A classic work it is 20 cm (8 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
Otani Shiro was born in Shigaraki in 1936 and graduated the Prefectural School in the ceramics department in 1956, which he followed up with 4 years studying decorating techniques under Morioka Yutaro. He then moved to Kyoto where he studied at the Municipal Ceramics Research Facility, where he trained under Kiyomizu Kyubei, Shofu Eichi and Uchida Kunio before returning to Shigaraki to yet further his studies in design. He garnered his first award at the Shiga Prefectural Art Exhibition in 1962, as well as the Governor’s prize at the National Rodosha Bijutsu-Ten Exhibition. He took a position with an industrial kiln in Shigaraki in 1963, and began potting in his free time, exhibiting and being awarded at the Asahi Togeiten among others. In 1968, he left his position at the kiln, and in 1969 was first accepted into the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition (Nihon Dento Kogeiten). In 1973 he established his own kilns in Shigaraki, both an Anagama submerged kiln and a climbing kiln, and began learning from future Living National Treasure Shimizu Uichi. From there he participated in the Nihon Dento Kogei Ten (National crafts Exhibition) as well as innumerable private exhibitions both domestic and International, and was named an Intangible Cultural Asset of Shigaraki in 1990. His work is held in The Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Gallery of Harvard as well as the Morikami Museum and Smithsonian among others. For an in depth look at this potter see the article by Rob Barnard in Ceramics Monthly volume 39 (Summer 1991).
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Contemporary item #1478459 (stock #MC121)
Straight out of a Miyazaki Hayao fantasy is this Future Fossil Series Koro incense burner by Watanabe Takuma which comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Bizen Koro Mirai Kaseki (future Fossil). It is 13 cm (5 inches diameter, 16.5 cm (6-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition, directly from the artist this summer.
Watanabe Takuma was born in Hyogo prefecture in 1968, and after graduating Kansai Daigaku University in 1991, began studying Bizen ware under Yamauchi Atsushi. In 1996 he entered the Bixen Toen Kiln. Shortly thereafter he began exhibiting and has receied numerous awards at the Okayama Prefectural Exhibition (Okayama Ken Bijutsu ten), National Traditional Crafts Exhibition (Nihon Dento Kogeiten), Issui-kai-ten, as well as being selected for the influential Tanabe Museum Modern Forms in Tea Exhibition among others. He built his own kin in 2006.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Contemporary item #1487673 (stock #MC641)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
Stratified layers fold over in a timeless rhythm on this covered box by Izumita Yukiya enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Sekisoh Futamono. The laminated layers and uneven kiln texture folded over and over again, create a unique cadence on the baked earth which offers the viewer both urbanity and a view of the wilderness that resembles the strata of the earth. If one has ever walked the shoreline of Iwate where this artist lives, the influence is clear. The receptacle is 28 x 19 x 4 cm (11 x 7-1/2 x 1-3/4 inches) and is in excellent condition, directly from the artist. Izumita Yukiya was born in 1966 in Rikuzentakat, Iwate Prefecture, and studied potting technique at the Kokujiyaki Kilns under Shimotakke Gakuho. He opened his own kiln in 1995 in Noda Village. In 1998 he began firing in an Anagama hole kiln. He has an impressive list of exhibitions and awards including the grand prize twice at the Asahi Togeiten Ceramic Exhibition in 2000 and 2002. He has also exhibited at the Nihon Togeiten National Ceramics Exhibition, International Ceramics Festival in Mino, Asahi Modern Craft Exhibition as well as being awarded at the 20th Japan Ceramic Art Biennial Exhibition in 2009. He has displayed in both Europe and America and is held in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery and Iwate Prefectural Museum and
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Contemporary item #1489215 (stock #MC702)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
Wet swirls of color, lavender and thin blue fringed with yellow decorated this odd shaped slab-ware vase by Shigemori Yoko enclosed in a signed wooden box titled Murasaki no Hi (Purple Days). This is a work in unusual style by one of our favorite female artists. It is 22x 8.5 x 19.5 cm (9 x 3-1/4 x 8 inches) and is in excellent condition enclosed in a box annotated by her brother Naoki.
Shigemori Yoko (1953-2021) was born in Kagoshima. Yoko came to Kyoto where she initially studied painting at the Kyoto Tankidai Art College, then moved to ceramics at the Kyoto Municipal Art University where she studied traditional pottery techniques under Kondo Yutaka before entering advanced courses under avant-garde Yagi Kazuo, graduating in 1979. Her first solo exhibitions were held while still a student at Gallery Iteza in Kyoto. She eschewed the world of competitive exhibitions in favor of the intimacy of private galleries, and her list of solo exhibitions is expansive. She received the Yagi Kazuo prize in 1986 and 1988 at the Nihon Gendai Togeiten National Modern Ceramics Exhibition. She was one of five artists featured in Toh, volume 76, the first issue dedicated to Kyoto potters. Toh was, at the time
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Contemporary item #1490899 (stock #YM018)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
A growth of calcified clay in sand-textured white by Yamaguchi Mio dating from 2023, a bridge between her earth-tones and new porcelain works. It is a great size at 22 x 15 x 20 cm (roughly 9 x 6 x 8 inches) and is in excellent condition, directly from the artist. It comes with a signed wooden box, which will be ordered upon sale.
Yamaguchi Mio was born in Aichi prefecture in 1992, and graduated advanced studies at the Aichi University of Education in 2017. While still at university, her works were selected for show at the JoryuTogei Ten Female Ceramic Artist Association Exhibition (2014). In 2016 she was awarded at the 3rd Kogei in Kanazawa Competition, Grand Prize at the Ceramic Art in the Present Tense Exhibition at the Hagi Uragami Museum as well received the governors prize at the 5oth Female Ceramic Artist Association Exhibition. In 2017 she was selected for the 11International Ceramics Competition in Mino. She took a job as a teacher, but could not fight the need to create, so enrolled in the Tajimi City Ceramics research facility, graduating in2020. Her work is currently on view in the Chicago Institute of Arts, and was featured on the cover of the catalog for that exhibition, Radical Clay.
According to Mio: I feel that my fascination towards the natural world’s use of repetition, in bee hives and on the surface of corals, appears in my work as I consume and absorb the world around me. I like to believe that these works are natural forms made by my own hands. When I mold clay, I have a sensation that my body and consciousness blends and binds with the material and the natural world. The process of building upon each coil and applying each fold one by one with my hands is a form of meditation. Through this repetitive process I want to be able to convey my thoughts at the time in the texture, such as my struggle of swaying between the desires to live freely and falling under the pressure from societal expectations. It calms me down to observe the fingerprints left in the surface and see the traces of my existence in the clay. These works are products of what I have absorbed around me.
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Contemporary item #1415705 (stock #1436)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, with thanks!
The surface of this bowl is like glossy rust, shot through with various shades and glimmering with mottled colors, the base irredescent red. It is by rising star Hashimoto Tomonari and comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled: Untitled Utsuwa (vessel). It is 13 cm (5-1/2 inches) diameter and in excellent condition, directly from the artist this winter.
After hand forming and sculpting the shapes, they are bisque fired, then glazed and fired again at a relatively low temperature (Between 1000 and 1100 degrees, like Raku ware). Then he builds a brick oven around each piece and brings the temperature up to 500 degrees, and adds millet or rice husk, which carbonizes the surface, creating incredible colors and random patterns leaving the viewer with a feeling like rusted or heated metal. Although many of his works are monumental, we have requested him to create some things a bit easier to ship…
Hashimoto Tomonari was born the son of a sculptor and has felt comfortable with the processes of creation since childhood. He graduated with a masters from the Kanazawa Univversity of Art in March 2017, then relocated to Shigaraki. A visit to his humble home studio is eye opening. Although he comes across as shy in conversation, when you move on to the subject of art he is all confidence. He was named a finalist for the Loewe Craft Prize in 2019 and is already making international waves around Asia. He will make his Western debut in Spring 2020. Get pieces by him while you can!
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Cups : Contemporary item #1424367 (stock #1498)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
Sold, thank you!
A pair of cups in silver and blue with gold by rising star Ichikawa Toru enclosed in the original signed wood box complete with Shifuku and Shiori. Each is roughly 9.5 cm (4 inches) diameter, 8 cm (3-1/4 inches) tall and both are in new condition. There is quite a contrast, fascinating to hold and view. The silver is quite dry and heavily textured, reminiscent of Same-hada (Sharkskin) or Jakatsu (Scorpion and Snake) wares. However, the celadon is smooth and shiny, in a deep, absorbent color, while the gold shines like only gold can, creating a vivid dialog across the playful surface. To top it off, he has allowed the thin edges to degenerate just a touch, giving them a sense of fragility and impermanence, as if they are about to disappear before your eyes.
Ichikawa Toru was born in Tokyo in 1973. In 2015 he established his current studio in Bizen after 4 years of apprenticeship under another Bizen Outsider, Kakurezaki Ryuichi. He has since developed quite a following, with his shows selling out often within hours.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1960 item #1377139 (stock #1205)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, thank you
Two shades of black form ethnic patterns on this hishigata vessel by Kiyomizu Rokubei dating circa 1960 nearly identical to figure 12 (page 85) of the catalog Yagi Kazuo to Kiyomizu Rokubei exhibited at the Muse Tomo in Tokyo in 2017. It is 18 x 13 x 24.5 cm (roughly 7 x 5 x 10 inches) and is in excellent condition. This came from the Rokubei family estate. No box
Kiyomizu Kyubei (1922-2006) was born Tsukamoto Hiroshi in Nagoya. He graduated from Nagoya Industrial High School (now the Nagoya Institute of Technology), majoring in architecture. Coming of age during the war years was not easy. he worked in glass and metal before being adopted into the Kiyomizu family in 1951. In 1953 he graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts, majoring in metal casting. In 1958 he continued his studies of sculpture under under Shigeru Senno, while working in clay at the Rokubei kiln. In 1963 he became an assistant professor at the Kyoto City University of Arts, advancing to full professor in 1968. He then took a one year sabbatical in Italy and since has received many prizes including the 17th Mainichi Arts Award in 1976 and the Excellence Award at the Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition in 1979. He succeeded as head of the Kiyomizu Family in 1980, relinquishing the reins to his son Masahiro in 2000. According to the catalog from the recent Kyubei/Kazuo exhibtion “The works by Kiyomizu Hiroshi dating from the 1950s display handsome, geometric forms. Design like consideration is a sensibility shared by many ceramicists today and he gives us an impression that he was ahead of his time.
The National Museums of Modern Art in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka hod 16 works
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Vases : Pre 2000 item #1414544 (stock #1411)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
sold, with thanks!
A stack of fused Bowls hollowed out as a vase by Satonaka Hideto enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled simply Utsuwa dating circa 1976. During the post war era a great amount of research was done in reviving ancient firing techniques, many potters and scholars working on medieval kiln excavations would unearth stacks of bowls and mounds of fused pots where kilns had collapsed during firing dating from the Heian period on to the age of the climbing kiln. These were well known to ceramic artists and researchers at the time. Here Hideto brings one such deformation into the modern world, perhaps a commentary on the fragility of our human efforts. Ordinarily fused and covered in encrustation of ash, here the artist has taken the opposite effect, with a brilliant crackled yellow glaze. It is 7-1/2 inches (19 cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Satonaka Hideto (1932-1989) was born in Nagoya and graduated advanced studies at the prestigious Tokyo Kyoiku University Arts Department in 1956, then went on to study under Miyanohara Ken, exhibiting his first ceramic sculpture with the Totokai in 1961, and garnering the Itaya Hazan Prize for it. Throughout the ‘60s he would exhibit there earning several awards as well as at the Sankikai. From 1970 he moved to the circle of Yagi Kazuo, and would fall under the umbrella of Sodeisha. Two of his works would be selected and awarded for the first Nihon Togeiten National Ceramics Exhibition in 1971. The following year he would be awarded at the Faenza International Ceramics Exhibition. He would leave Sodeisha after the death of his mentor in 1979. He would participate in the Valauris International Ceramic Biennale among many other overseas extravaganzas. While working as a professor at the Bunkyo University Art Department his life ended suddenly in an automobile accident in 1989. Six works by him are held in both the National Museums of Modern Art in Tokyo and Kyoto
All Items : Artists : Ceramics : Pottery : Pre 2000 item #1414621 (stock #1414)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
Sold, with thanks!
Ethnic designs in brilliant crimson red decorate this ewer by Yoshikawa Mitsuru enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Aka-e no Binshi (Red Decorated Server). It is 15 x 12 x 15 cm (6 x 4-3/4 x 6 inches) and is in excellent condition. Together with the sake cups and sake pot, this would be a wonderful service set for two. Anyone wishing to purchase this group will receive a proper discount.
Yoshikawa Mitsuru was born in Kyoto in 1949, graduating the Kyoto Municipal University of Arts advanced studies in ceramics in 1976. He has been exhibited at the Asahi Craft Exhibition, Nihon Togeiten National Ceramics Exhibition, Asahi Togeiten Ceramics Exhibition and his works have been collected by Kyoto City. He has been picked up by many of Japan’s preeminent galleries, including private exhibitions at the prestigious Takashimaya and Kuroda Toen of Tokyo’s Ginza District.