Catalog: Artists: Ceramics: Pottery (595)

A playful troupe of elephants parade around the rim of this early bowl by Shigemori Yoko enclosed in a signed wooden box titled Zobachi. The creatures are in relief, raised from the surface, not engraved into it. This was made by pressing the clay slab onto a surface into which were engraved the family of creatures. It is roughly 13cm 12.7 cm (over 5 inches) diameter, 6 cm (2-1/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
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

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

A large Serving dish covered entirely in a volatile landscape of scholars and winding mountain paths populated by towering temples and bridges spanning precipitous gaps by Shigemori Yoko enclosed in a wooden box titled Sansui E-zara. Performed with blue over a cream colored glaze, it is 33 x 35 x 3.5 cm (roughly 13 x 14 x 1-1/4 inches) and is in excellent condition, directly from the artist’s family, with a wooden box signed 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

Caribbean-Blue glass fills this crusty earthen bowl by Ogawa Machiko enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Saiyu Bachi. It is roughly 27cm (11 inches) diameter, 10 cm (4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Ogawa Machiko was born in Sapporo on the Northern Island of Hokkaido in 1946. She studied under future Living National Treasures Fujimoto Yoshimichi, Tamura Koichi and Kato Hajime at the Tokyo University of Arts, graduating in 1969, then went on to further studies in France and Africa, returning to Japan in 1975. She began garnering attention in the mid eighties, and has since become one of the leading female figures in Japanese pottery. She was awarded the JCS prize in 2001, one of Japans most prestigious awards. Work by her is held in the Brooklyn Art Museum, LACMA, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smith College, MIA, MOMAT and a host of others. For more see “Touch Fire, Contemporary Ceramics by Women Artists” (2009) or Toh, volume 67 (1993). For more information see the current exhibition Radical Clay at the Chicago Art Institute.

A large Namako Glazed Tea Bowl by Kashima Aya enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The technique is deceptively complex. In fact, the initial form is created, then a thin layer of ceramic is made separately, dried, then cracked, and the individual pieces are applied like mosaic to the prepared form. The space in between the tiles is then abraded, the tiles glazed with color and the space n between glazed with iron. Each piece requires a great amount of painstaking dedication to complete. It is 13.5 cm (5-1/4 inches) diameter, 9.5 cm (just under 4 inches) tall and in excellent condition, directly from the artist.
Kashima Aya was born in Kanagawa prefecture in 1987. She graduated the Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University, Department of Arts and Culture in 2010. She graduated the Tajimi City Ceramic Design Institute Design Course in 2020, with an additional two years in their advanced Ceramic Lab, graduating in 2022. During this time, she took part in many group exhibitions. She received Nyusen status at the 55th Women's Association of Ceramic Artists (WACA) Exhibition in 2021. In 2023 her work was selected for presentation at the “Ceramic Synergy Exhibition” held at the Kyoto Kyocera Museum of Art.

A long spiraling form of perfect dimension in iron glaze by female artist Takatsu Mio titled simply Uzumaki. It is 54 cm long and in excellent condition, directly from the artist.
Takatsu Mio (b. 1976) was raised in Gifu prefecture among the scattered kilns of Mino. She graduated the Osaka University of Arts Sculpture Department in 1999, moving on to advanced studies which she completed in 2001, putting her at the forefront of the current female revolution in Japanese ceramic arts. Her first exhibited works were in 1999, and then again in Tokyo in 2001. The following year she exhibited with the 6th International Ceramics Exhibition in Mino with several private exhibitions over the following years in many top venues. In 2005 she made her overseas debut. In 2009 her work was featured in Women Ceramic Artists in the 21st Century (Paramita Museum/Mie Japan) 2011 saw her work accepted into the Faenza International Ceramics Exhibition in Italy, as well as the Nihon Togeiten National Ceramics Exhibition. She had to take a break to concentrate on motherhood and raising a baby, but it back in the saddle again, creating new works and showing what a woman and a mother can do.

The inside of this bowl has been glazed, the exterior left in raw clay before the entire was dipped in white gold, creating a stark contrast between inner and outer surfaces by Ogawa Machiko enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Hakukinsai Hachi. It is 14.5cm (just under 6 inches) wide 8cm (3-1/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Ogawa Machiko was born in Sapporo on the Northern Island of Hokkaido in 1946. She studied under future Living National Treasures Fujimoto Yoshimichi, Tamura Koichi and Kato Hajime at the Tokyo University of Arts, graduating in 1969, then went on to further studies in France and Africa, returning to Japan in 1975. She began garnering attention in the mid eighties, and has since become one of the leading female figures in Japanese pottery. She was awarded the JCS prize in 2001, one of Japans most prestigious awards. Work by her is held in the Brooklyn Art Museum, LACMA, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smith College, MIA, MOMAT and a host of others. For more see “Touch Fire, Contemporary Ceramics by Women Artists” (2009) or Toh, volume 67 (1993). For more information see the current exhibition Radical Clay at the Chicago Art Institute.

Invisible from the top, glimmering stones catch the light in the raw cracked clay on the outside of this dark earthen bowl by Ogawa Machiko enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Yami to Sei (Darkness and Stars) Chawan. A beautiful bowl showing the artists fascination with the combination of smooth crystalline surfaces and raw matte clay. The interior is glazed, while the outside is raw clay. It is roughly 15.3 cm (6 inches) diameter, 8 cm (3-1/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Ogawa Machiko was born in Sapporo on the Northern Island of Hokkaido in 1946. She studied under future Living National Treasures Fujimoto Yoshimichi, Tamura Koichi and Kato Hajime at the Tokyo University of Arts, graduating in 1969, then went on to further studies in France and Africa, returning to Japan in 1975. She began garnering attention in the mid eighties, and has since become one of the leading female figures in Japanese pottery. She was awarded the JCS prize in 2001, one of Japans most prestigious awards. Work by her is held in the Brooklyn Art Museum, LACMA, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smith College, MIA, MOMAT and a host of others. For more see “Touch Fire, Contemporary Ceramics by Women Artists” (2009) or Toh, volume 67 (1993). For more information see the current exhibition Radical Clay at the Chicago Art Institute.

A large Tsubo with ruptured rim burnt to a mellow orange with a dusting of natural ash glaze on the shoulder by important Shigaraki artist Sawa Kiyotsugu enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shigaraki Tsuboi. Comb marks sweep the surface like rake marks in a Zen garden, a meandering trail scored into the side like a mountain path. Slightly misshapen, it is roughly 30 x 31 x 33 cm (12-1/4 x 12 x 13 inches) and is in excellent condition.
Sawa Kiyotsugu (b. 1948), originally of Shigaraki, spent two years at the Kyoto Ceramics Research institute before a five year apprenticeship under Takahashi Shunsai back in his hometown of Shigaraki. He has been a staunch supporter of the modern revival and development of Shigaraki yaki, his works sold through a network of private exhibitions. Work by him is held in the British museum

A beautiful small Guinomi by Matsuo Takaaki enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shigaraki Shizen-yu Yohen Hai. It is 7 cm 2-3/4 inches) diameter, 5 cm (2 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Matsuo Takaaki was born in Yokohama in 1938. He began studies under Tsuji Seimei at Renkoji in 1960 where he trained for over 15 years. He became independent in 1975 and built a climbing kiln in Tama. Since he has been exhibited with the Issuikai but mainly focuses on the intimacy of private exhibitions.

A beautiful Shigaraki Chaire Tea urn by Matsuo Takaaki enclosed in the original signed wooden box measuring 5.5 cm (2 inches) diameter, 8 cm (3 inches) tall in excellent condition. Matsuo Takaaki was born in Yokohama in 1938. He began studies under Tsuji Seimei at Renkoji in 1960 where he trained for over 15 years. He became independent in 1975 and built a climbing kiln in Tama. Since he has been exhibited with the Issuikai but mainly focuses on the intimacy of private exhibitions.

A fabulous Kutsugata Chawan by Matsuo Takaaki enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shigarai Shizen-yu Yohen Chawan. Rising from a round base to an elongated rim, it has been blasted by the inferno on one side, the molten ash circling about to form a Zen circle where it had been supported on its side in the kiln. At the narrowest part of the rim it has adhered to something else in the kiln, causing a break which has been filled with gold by the artist. In addition gold completes the Zen circle on the side, and glimmers like morning dew on the foot. A true masterpiece by this veteran artist. It is 14.5 x10.5 cm (5-1/2 x 4-1/8 inches) at the rim, 8.5cm(3-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Matsuo Takaaki was born in Yokohama in 1938. He began studies under Tsuji Seimei at Renkoji in 1960 where he trained for over 15 years. He became independent in 1975 and built a climbing kiln in Tama. Since he has been exhibited with the Issuikai but mainly focuses on the intimacy of private exhibitions.

A surprisingly thin-walled deep Sake cup covered in blasted ash by Matsuo Takaaki enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Iga Shizen-yu Youhen Nozoki Hai. It is 5.5cm (2 inches) diameter 7cm (just under 3 inches) tall and in excellent condition. Matsuo Takaaki was born in Yokohama in 1938. He began studies under Tsuji Seimei at Renkoji in 1960 where he trained for over 15 years. He became independent in 1975 and built a climbing kiln in Tama. Since he has been exhibited with the Issuikai but mainly focuses on the intimacy of private exhibitions.

A glowering charred dark sake cup by Matsuo Takaaki enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Iga Shizen-yu Youhen Nozoki Hai. It is 6cm (just over 2 inches) diameter, 7.5cm (3 inches) tall and in excellent condition. Matsuo Takaaki was born in Yokohama in 1938. He began studies under Tsuji Seimei at Renkoji in 1960 where he trained for over 15 years. He became independent in 1975 and built a climbing kiln in Tama. Since he has been exhibited with the Issuikai but mainly focuses on the intimacy of private exhibitions.

An early vase by sculptural legend Yanagihara Mutsuo enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Heki-yu Tetsu-e Kabin. Hekiyu is a glaze made of copper and cobalt, which when fired takes on the color of Lapiz. In this case the Lapiz blue pours down over a tapering base of raw earth decorated with spiraling blades in iron glaze. It is 23.5cm (9 inches) diameter 27.5 cm (11 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Yanigahara Mutsuo (b.1934) was raised in Seto, and studied in Kyoto along with contemporary Morino Taimei with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. His work is largely sculptural, and his choice of colors is his reflection on the decadence of Japanese society. A list of exhibitions and awards would be much too long but includes the Japan Ceramics Society Gold prize in 2002. Listed as one of the most influential potters of the 20th century in the Japanese ceramics magazine Honoho Geijutsu, he is held in the Museum of Modern Art, both Tokyo and Kyoto (MOMAT, MOMAK), The National Museum of Art, Osaka, V&A, Great Victoria Art Gallery, Portland and any number of other prominent public and private collections throughout the world. For more see Japanese Studio Crafts, Tradition and the Avant Garde by Rupert Faulkner. According to the V&A his “work is striking for its blend of dynamism, colour and wit. A leading figure among Kyoto artists, Yanagihara has taught at Osaka University of Arts since 1968. Yanagihara's application of brightly coloured abstract motifs to vessel forms with anatomical, sometime sexually explicit features - a combination with which he first experimented in the late 1960s and early 1970s - has been a characteristic of his work for the past fifteen years. As in the case of Morino Taimei, a close friend and exact contemporary at Kyoto City University of Arts in the late 1950s, Yanagihara has been considerably influenced by the experiences he gained during two periods of teaching in the United States in 1966-8 and 1972-4. His use of gold and silver - a wry comment, he has explained, on the decaying values of contemporary society and the corruption of Japan's political system - echoes the extravagant style of certain North American artists.”

A perfect example of the more refined side of Iga pottery by is represented by this large chawan by Tanimoto Yo enclosed in the original singed wooden box titled Iga Chawan. It is 14 cm (5-1/2 inches) diameter, 8.5 cm (3-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Born in 1958 the son of Iga potter Tanimoto Kosei, Yo was raised among the kilns and has always had his hands in clay. He first began exhibiting in 1982, and in 1984 moved to Europe where he studied oil painting and sculpture (in Spain), and set up a pottery studio outside Paris. After returning to Japan he set up his own studio in 1988, working both in Japan and Spain. Since his works have been exhibited widely, both domestically and abroad in New York, London, Barcelona and Paris.

A striking Tenmoku Vase by maser of the genre Kamada Koji enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Ginsho Tenmoku Hyo-gata Kabin. It is 15cm (6 inches) diameter, 31cm (12 inches) tall and in excellent condition. Kamada Koji (sometimes written Kamata) was born in Kyoto in 1948, and apprenticed under Shimizu Tadashi from the age of 19. In 1971 he graduated from the Kyoto Prefectural Ceramics Research facility and began teaching there while beginning his research into Tenmoku ware. The following year he was accepted into the Nihon Dento Kogeiten Traditional Crafts Exhibition, and in 1975 the bi-annual Japan Ceramics Exhibition (Nihon Togeiten). In 1977 he quit teaching in order to devote his full talents to exploring the possibilities of his medium. In 1988 he would enter under the wing of Living National Treasure Shimizu uichi, undeniably one of the leading experts in the field at that time. Since his work has ben exhibited widely both domestically and in Europe and the Americas. He is held in the collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and Philadelphia Museum among others. For more see Japanese Ceramics for the Twenty-first Century, (Walters Art Museum, 2014) or Into the Fold: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics from the Horvitz Collection (Nagakura, 2015).

A beautiful vessel by Kitamura Junko exhibiting the best of her handiwork. It is 16 cm (6-1/4 inches) diameter, 13.5 cm (5-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition. There is no box.
Kitamura Junko learned under the tutelage of Suzuki Osamu and Kondo Yutaka of the influential Sodeisha. Like Mashiko artist Shimaoka Tatsuzo, her work is influenced by Jomon pottery, however her approach is very different. After impressing patterns into the clay with bamboo and firing once with a dark slip, the impressions are painstakingly filled with white slip, defining the pattern, and fired again. Works by the artist are held in many public collections, including the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Houston Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum of Art among many others.