Toshiko Takaezu Original Modernist Glazed Abstract Expressionist Sculptural Ceramic Art Studio Vessel Bowl
Original Abstract Expressionist dual glazed ceramic art studio vessel / bowl by pioneering American ceramic artist, painter, and sculptor Toshiko Takaezu, (1922-2011). The ceramic bowl is purple and red with abstract designs and sculptural elements. The vessel measures approximately 7" H x 6" W, with a 5.7 inch diameter at the top, and 2.5" along the very bottom. The vessel is a beautiful, rich color red and purple, and is in excellent condition. It is stamped with the artist's stamp along the lower edge. The vessel is circa 1995.
Toshiko Takaezu was a groundbreaking American ceramic artist, painter, and sculptor known for elevating ceramics from a traditional craft, to fine art. Her work blends Abstract Expressionist painting techniques with influences from East Asian art and Zen philosophy.
Toshiko Takaezu drew on influences like Zen Buddism and the Japanese tea ceremony, as well as the natural world around her, which she interpreted in her organic shapes and surfaces.
Toshiko Takaezu's education and training blended Western academic study with immersion in Japanese arts, forming the basics for her unique style.
Takaezu began her university studies in art history, ceramics, and weaving in 1948, where she first studied with Claude Horan. From 1951 to 1954, Takaezu attended graduate school at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. She studied under Finnish- American ceramic artist Maija Grotell, who encouraged her shift toward more experimental and sculptural forms. Cranbrook was a center for modernism at the time, and her time there helped Takaezu connect Eastern art traditions with the Abstract Expressionist movement.
In 1955, after receiving a grant, Takaezu took an eight month trip to Japan, the homeland of her immigrant parents. During her time there, she studied traditional and modern Japanese art and culture, including the folk- craft aesthetic known as mingei, and Japanese tea ceremony. She also had the oppotunity to study with master potter Toyo Kaneshige. The experience was profoundly influential, helping her synthesize Japanese pottery with Western modernist sensibilities.
Beyond her art, Takaezu was a highly respected teacher, holding faculty positions for decades and mentoring many emerging artists. She taught at Cranbrook Academy, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is perhaps best known for teaching for 25 years at Princeton University, where she established the ceramics department in 1967. After returning from Princeton, she continued to mentor students through a live- in apprenticeship program at her New Jersey studio.
Key museum collections of Toshiko Takaezy's work include:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York, NY
Smithsonian American Art7 Museum; Washington, D.C.
The Noguchi Museum; Queens, NY
Honolulu Museum of Art; Honolulu HI
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (LACMA); Los Angeles, CA
Princeton University Art Museum; Princeton, N.J.
Cranbrook Art Museum; Bloomfield Hills, MI
Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art; Kyoto, Japan
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