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 : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1234464 (stock #710)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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Running up to the end of our 60s and 70s ceramics, here is a great piece by a student of Yagi Kazuo, Yoshitake Hiromu (Hiroshi) enclosed in the original signed wooden box and dating from the late 60s or early 70s encapsulating the feeling of rage against conformity then rupturing the Japanese ceramic world. It is 6 x 14 x 16 inches (15 x 35 x 40 cm) and is in fine condition. Due to size and weight the cost of shipping will be accrued separately for this piece.
Born in Kyoto in 1938, Hiromu was a member of Sodeisha and studied under Yagi Kazuo concentrating on sculpture. Initially in Kyoto, then Otsu, he is now established in Nagano prefecture. For more on this artist see the book Gendai Nihon Togei (Kinki volume II).
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #682921 (stock #163)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A large color splashed charger by one of Kyotos more original artists Tsuboi Asuka enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The vessel has a narrow foot with steadily rising sides creating a light airy feel; sheet white clay covered in green glass interspersed with runs of opaque shadow. Perfect for a service of summer fruits, or as a shallow basin for an arrangement of summer flowers. It is just less than 16 inches (40 cm) diameter and in excellent condition. Asuka, originally of Osaka, learned under the careful tutelage of Tomimoto Kenkichi in Kyoto, the city she has called home for several decades. She is well known in the Japanese ceramic world for her unique sculpture.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1229236 (stock #494)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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Rope and cloth patterns are impressed creating deeply textured shadows on this free form ceramic sculpture awarded the Kyoto Governors prize, and dated on bottom Heisei 10 (1998) by Yasuda Kayo. A pale ash glaze runs in sheets and rivulets over the lined and creased surface, with the top bursting open. This piece is 15 kilograms, 16 inches (40 cm) diameter, 18 inches (45 cm) tall and in fine condition. All the Yasuda family pieces are from the Matsui family collection of Fushimi, an extensive collection of art objects encompassing many aspects of crafts, including sculpture, Pottery and Metalwork. It would seem they had a personal connection with the Yasuda family, as they owned many pieces, including tea bowls, vases and these larger sculptural works which we happily acquired. Due to size and weight this will likely require shipping by private air freight, to be assessed separately.
Kayo was born in Kyoto in 1952 into the house of important Avant-garde artist Yasuda Zenko. A pioneering female artist in Japanese ceramics, she has worked tirelessly against a system which suppressed women in the field. She is currently a resident of Shiga prefecture and frequent exhibitor with the Nitten National Exhibition.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1226680 (stock #694)
Form and Texture, a beautiful white vase by Taniguchi Ryozo enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 8-1/2 inches (22 cm) tall and in fine condition, dating circa 1973.
Ryozo (1926-1996) studied initially under Kiyomizu Rokubei VI. He was first accepted into the Japan Academy of Arts exhibition in 1948, and subsequently into the Nitten National exhibition in 1951 and exhibited there often after, receiving many prizes including the Hokuto-sho, Prime Ministers Prize and Kiku-ka-sho as well as serving as a jury member. In 1956 he was awarded at the Modern Ceramic Art Exhibition, and five years later was recipient of the prestigious Japan Ceramics Society (JCS) Award (1961). Showing his prowess he was invited to exhibit at the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo in 1964, and was invited to serve as a juror for the Kyoten that same year. From then his list of exhibitions and prizes is impressive and much too long to list in this add. He has also exhibited with the Modern Japanese Ceramics Exhibition as well as being awarded at the Modern Japanese Crafts Exhibition and the Kofukai, where he was awarded the Kofukai Members Prize (participating there from 1960). From the 1970s, other international and domestic exhibitions as well as a slew of private exhibitions at Japans top galleries. Works by the artist are held in the MOMAT, In 1989 he received the Kyoto Cultural award for his life works in the ceramics field.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #659555 (stock #115)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A stunning silver glazed Tokkuri by artist Kozuru Gen (b. 1938) in the original signed kiri wood box. The vase is completely covered in silver or platinum glaze with sansai like yellow and green in spontaneous crystalline dabs set in extra drippings of thick silver about the circumference. Countering this strength of character is faded orange, adding a subtle suggestion inside the mouth of the bulbous Tokkuri form. The vase, which dates circa 1980, is 7 inches (18 cm) tall. Gen has operated a kiln in both Fukuoka Japan as well as in Topsfield Massachusetts, and has participated in too many national and international exhibitions to mention. His work is held in the permanent collection of the Kyoto Museum of Modern Art among others.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1233088 (stock #703)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A thin roughly textured plate by avant garde Yagi Kazuo titled cryptically Nanbanzara (The Southern Barbarians Plate) and enclosed in a fine Shiho Kiri-wood box endorsed by his son Yagi Akira. It is 10 inches (26 cm) diameter and in fine condition.
Volumes have been written about pioneering artist Yagi Kazuo (1918-1979) and I am sure he needs no introduction. His birth on Independence Day seems to have been a portent of things to come. He was the son of the ceramicist Yagi Isso, and grew up surrounded by the characters of the Goja-zaka pottery world of Kyoto, living just down the street from Greats like Kawai Kanjiro and Kiyomizu Rokubei. He graduated the sculpture department of the Kyoto Municipal School of Art in 1937, and went on to further study under Numata Ichiga at the Kyoto Ceramics Research Facility. It was in 1948, that along with Kumakura Junkichi, Hikaru Yamada and Suzuki Osamu, he founded the influential Sodeisha (Crawling Through Mud Association), a group of revolutionary post war ceramic artists whose influence remains strong today. The basis of this unit was complete disposal of function in favor of form. This group and other contemporary groups (Sekidosha etc) began the rivalry between function and form which has defined Japanese ceramic art for half a century. He taught at the Kyoto Municipal University of Art for much of his life. Works by this artist are held in innumerable public and private collections throughout the world.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1217827 (stock #663)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A charred Tsubo blasted with ash by Takahashi Rakusai enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It reflects the style of early Shigaraki, with an engraved crosshatch belt circling the flaring mouth. The piece is 8 inches (21 cm) tall, roughly the same diameter and in excellent condition but for one tiny nick in the base.
Born in Shigaraki in 1900, Rakusai was considered one of the true masters of Shigaraki and Iga-yaki, along with Naokata and later Michio. He worked toward the revival of Kamakura and Muromachi wares like this piece, and came to the world stage when he won international acclaim after being prized at the 1958 Brussels Exposition. He was later named a Shiga-ken Juyo Mukei Bunkazai and is credited as one of the artists that saved Japanese pottery from extinction in the post-war years. He eschewed the National Competitions and was a proponent of the world of private exhibition. He died in 1976.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1218296 (stock #665)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A Hakuji Mentori Vase by Takenaka Ko enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 5-1/2 inches (14 cm) diameter, 13 inches (33 cm) tall and in excellent condition.
Ko (born 1941) apprenticed under future Living National Treasure Kondo Yuzo before establishing his own kiln in 1970. He was the recipient of one of Japans most prestigious awards, the JCS award (Japanese Ceramics Society) in 1980. He was designated an Intangible Cultural Property of Kyoto in 1995 (Mukei Bunkazai or prefectural Treasure). Works by this artist are held in the Victoria Albert Museum, and the British Museum as well as both the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo and Kyoto among many others. For more on this influential artist see the catalog for the exhibition “Japanese Ceramics Today: Masterpieces from the Kukichi Collection” (Smithsonian Institute) or Winter Whites: The Porcelains of Takenaka Ko, by Suzanne Mitchell, New York, 2003. Also, Contemporary Clay, Japanese Ceramics for the New Century by Joe Earle, 2005.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1218434 (stock #666)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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Red highlights the salt glazed body of this multifaceted tsubo by Seto Hiroshi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Enseki-yu Tamentori Tsubo. Like stepping stones stomach scales of a snake climb in concentric arcs about the body of the base, the white covering most with red highlighting the edges. It is 8 inches (20 cm) tall, roughly the same diameter and in excellent condition.
Seto Hiroshi (1941-1994) studied pottery under Living National Treasures Tomimoto Kenkichi and Kondo Yuzo in Kyoto before establishing himself in Mashiko, where he served to bring tradition into the modern age with his unique look at form and glaze. He was exhibited and awarded widely including the Nihon Togei-Ten National Ceramic Exhibition and is held in any number of important Domestic and International collections.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1481527
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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An exquisite vase covered in rivulets of blue, yellow and green on a slightly flattened bottle form by Kiyomizu Rokubei VI enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The turned form has been slightly flattened creating four rounded sides, the resulting shape reminiscent of traditional Edo period green-glass bottles. Wide bands of blue mark th corners, with a narrow streak like a waterfall cascading between the ocher and jade on the sides. The vase is 30 cm (12 inches) tall, 16 cm (6 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
Rokubei VI (Shotaro, 1901-1980) graduated from the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts (Kyoto Shiritsu Bijutsu Kogei Gakko) and then Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting (Kyoto Shiritsu E-ga Senmon Gakko) before taking a position under his father in 1925. That same year, he entered his first competition. Early on he was not limited to pottery, but worked in metal, sculpture and glass as well, absorbing aspects of modernism and the arts and crafts movement into his oeuvre. His career was to be marked by success in exhibitions including numerous awards at the aforementioned government sponsored Bunten/Teiten/Nitten National exhibitions and would later serve as a judge there. He enjoyed international acclaim, showing pieces at exhibitions, having his works join museum collections and winning awards in Belgium, the USSR, France and Italy. He did much to cultivate the arts and young artists in the post war years, taking full advantage of his position as a star to promote both traditional and avant-garde approaches. He would be appointed a member of the Japan Art Academy in 1962 and awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in 1976. So dedicated was he, in fact, he died in 1980 after collapsing at an exhibition celebrating the Kiyomizu family's history. A multitude of works by him are held in the The National Museums of Modern Art, both in Tokyo and Kyoto.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Porcelain : Pre 1980 item #669902 (stock #139)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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Latticed windows of gold shine softly through the translucent blue glaze of this shapely vase by Kutani Master Matsumoto Saichi enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The vase is 11 inches (28 cm) tall, and in excellent condition, dating circa 1985, a time of upheaval in the artist life where he established a wood fired climbing kiln in his new home village of Yoshinodani. Saichi comes from a distinguished line of potters, his Father being Sahei and grandfather Sataro. Both were prominent figures in Kutani. Upon graduation from the Kanazawa Institute of Fine Art, he followed in the footsteps of so many greats like Hamada Shoji and Kawai Kanjiro by studying in Kyoto at the National Ceramic Research Institute before returning to Kanazawa. He was first accepted into the Nitten in 1952 (the piece exhibited was purchased by the Tokyo Governemnt), and was awarded on numerous occasions, including the grand prize there in both 1985 and 1988. He was also recipient of prizes at the Asahi Togei Ten Ceramic Exhibition, Kofukai-Ten and Kutani Dento Kogei Ten (Traditional Crafts Exhibition of Kutani, Grand prize). He has a list of exhibitions which goes beyond the scope of this description, and is in the collection of the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art among others.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Porcelain : Pre 1980 item #1482763
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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An elegant celadon receptacle with custom made black lacquered lid by important female potter Suwa Sozan II titled Seiji Mizusashi and enclosed in a wooden box annotated by the third generation head of the family. The Taru shape (a traditional bound shallow wood bucket) is surmounted at the rim with lily pads upon which rests a tiny frog. In the center of the base is her circular stamp. It is 24 cm (9-1/2 inches) diameter, 12 cm (5 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Suwa Sozan (1852-1922) was born in Kutani country, present day Ishikawa prefecture, where he initially studied before moving to Tokyo in 1875. Over the next 25 years he would gravitate between Tokyo and Kanazawa, working at various kilns and research facilities. He again relocated, this time to Kyoto in 1900 to manage the Kinkozan Studio. His name became synonymous with celadon and refined porcelain. He was succeeded by his adopted daughter upon his death. He is held in the Kyoto National Museum among many others. Sozan Torako (Suwa Sozan II 1890–1977) was born in Kanazawa in 1890, and was soon adopted by her uncle, Suwa Sozan I. Her ceramics resemble those of Sozan I, but are considered to be more graceful and feminine. Torako assumed the family name upon her uncles death in 1922. She is held in the collection of the Imperial Household Agency among others.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Porcelain : Pre 1980 item #1399710 (stock #1305)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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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 : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #867017 (stock #310)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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Splashes of earthen color decorate the deep sides of this large open dish by Living National Treasure Tamura Koichi enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The bowl is 15-1/2 (39 cm) diameter, 4 inches (10.5 cm) tall. The box is worn but still sturdy, and the bowl is in perfect condition. Koichi graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine arts Where he later taught), and took up an apprenticeship under (later) Living National Treasure Tomimoto Kenkichi. With a very impressive career, Koichi too was designated a Living National Treasure for work with iron glaze the year before his death, 1986.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Porcelain : Pre 1980 item #1103670 (stock #449)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A pair of men-tori gourd shaped sake flasks by Living National Treasure Kondo Yuzo enclosed in the original signed wooden box. One flask is decorated in blue with bamboo and the characters Sei-Fu (pure wind). The second is dated in blue and pink with pomegranates with the inscription “For the use of Yuzo, October 27, 1976”. Both are signed on the base. It is likely these came from the artists own personal collection. Each stands roughly 5 inches (13 cm) tall. There are two fractures visible in the glaze of the pomegranate flask.
Kondo Yuzo (1902-1985) was born in the Gojozaka district of Kyoto and studied alongside Kawai Kanjiro and Hamada Shoji at the Kyoto Ceramics Reseaerch facility, where he studied kiln technique directly under Shoji. He then apprenticed under recently returned Tomimoto Kenkichi for three years before establishing himself as a unique artist in the Kiyomizu district of Kyoto in 1924. He served as a professor at the Kyoto University of Art where he helped shape generations of potters. After an illustrious career he was named a Living National Treasure for Sometsuke Porcelain in 1977. Works by the artist are held in the collection of the LACMA, Cleveland and Brooklyn Museums of Art, Kyoto Municipal and Tokyo National Museums of Modern Art among many others.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1230163 (stock #700)
A kaki (persimmon) is playfully rendered in orange and green on the wide white sides of this green bordered square bottle by Avant-garde Sodeisha Potter Kumakura Junkichi enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is 15 x 6.5 x 12 cm (6 x 2-1/2 x 5 inches) and in excellent condition.
Junkichi began working in ceramics in the 1940s, his works submitted to innumerable National and International Exhibitions including the Japan Art Festival, New York and the international Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Florence Italy. He also submitted to the Brussels World Exposition and helped design murals for the World Exposition Osaka. At the International Ceramics Exhibition, Prague in 1962 he took a silver prize. He was also often exhibited and is in the permanent collection of the Japanese National Museum of Modern Art as well as the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Along with Suzuki Osamu, Hikaru Yamada and Yagi Kazuo, Junkichi was one of the founding members of the influential Sodeisha (Crawling Through Mud Association), a group of revolutionary post war ceramic artists whose influence remains strong today.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1337565 (stock #996)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A spectacular Iga Tsubo by Shimizu Hiroshi enclosed in the original signed wooden box. Bidoro, Tombo-no-me, tobi-hai, shiseki…the surface is an exploration of kiln affects, every slight turn bringing new surprises. It is 15 inches (38.5 cm) diameter, 17 inches (43 cm) tall and in excellent condition. Due to size the cost of shipping will be accrued separately.
Shimizu Hiroshi was born the grandson of the first generation potter Shimizu Rakuzan in Mie prefecture in1941. He began working under his grandfather in 1959, going on a study tour from 1961; spending time in Takatori, Tamba and Hagi. He opened his own kiln in Mie in 1970, but the following year decided to move to Korea to study the origins of Japanese Tea Ceramics and Korean firing technique. He opened his own kiln in Korea in 1974 and developed a style combining Japanese tradition and Korean techniques, continuing this development throughout his career, and differentiates the origin of his works with the kiln name in Korea or the kiln name in Japan on the box lid. This is from his original kiln in Mie.
All Items : Vintage Arts : Regional Art : Asian : Japanese : Stoneware : Pre 1980 item #1416401 (stock #1444)
Modern Japanese Ceramics
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A recumbent form of grungy urban themes by Kato Kiyoyuki enclosed in the original signed wooden box dating from the 1960s. It is 42 x 7 x 13.5 cm (16-1/2 x 3 x 5 inches) and is in excellent condition. The box has oxidized with age.
Kato Kiyoyuki was born in 1931, the heir to a long-established tile-making business in Seto. He studied ceramics at high school however his main interest lay in painting and sculpture, and it was only when he was in his late twenties that he began to work in pottery. He made his first submission to the Nitten exhibition in 1958, and began producing well-designed utilitarian ceramics in keeping with the principles of the then newly established Japan Craft Design Association, but soon turned his hand to sculptural ceramics. Kato's development as a ceramic sculptor owed much to his friendship with Teshigahara Sofu (1900-79), the former head of the Sogetsu school of flower-arranging. Terashige's experimental interests encouraged Kato to explore his sculptural ambitions in vessel as well as non-vessel formats. According to Kiyoyuki, “When a shape that is completely free of unnaturalness emerges, the clay and I become one”. He won the Grand Prize at the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition in both 1964 and 1965. He is the recipient of the most prestigious Japan Ceramic Society Gold Prize. He has exhibited with the aforementioned Nitten National Fine Arts Exhibition and Asahi Ceramics Exhibition, Chunichi Kokusai Togeiten International Ceramics Exhibition as well as Faenze International Ceramics Exhibition, Nihon Togeiten National Ceramics Exhibition, Nihon Gendai Kogeiten National Modern Crafts Exhibition and Seto Togeiten among many many others, and his list of private exhibitions could not be covered on this page. Work by him is held in the V&A (London), Tokyo and Kyoto National Museums of Modern Art, Canterbury Museum (New Zealand) and the Sogetsu Museum in Aichi among others. For more see Toh Volume 8, which was dedicated entirely to him.