Toshiko Takaezu (American, 1922-2011) Studio Pottery Bowl, United States, glazed stoneware, incised maker's mark, ht. 2 3/4, dia. 4 1/2 in.
Note: Born in Hawaii to a Japanese ?migr? family, Takaezu received her early training in ceramics in Honolulu, and then attended Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, when it was an epicenter for adventurous modernism. Already in this early phase in her career, she was able to see correspondences between Abstract Expressionism and the spiritually infused traditions of East Asia, such as calligraphy and tea ceremony. She combined these cross-cultural influences into a powerfully resolved synthesis.
Though made using traditional pottery techniques of wheel-throwing and glazing, the works for which she is best known û the closed forms û are best understood as sculptures, or perhaps as paintings-in-the-round. They are as individual as people are, varying greatly in scale and shape, color and texture, and in their internal tectonic rhythms. Some are vigorously painterly, with splashes and rivulets of color coursing down their sides. Others are more meditative, sheathed in overlapping veils of hue. They have a close affinity with the work of other postwar expressionist artists, such as Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, and Mark Rothko. (Toshiko Takaezu Foundation)
Condition
Condition: No visible damage or repairs.
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