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Toshiko Takaezu

American, 1929-2011

Toshiko Takaezu was an American ceramic artist and painter. She was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, in 1922. She studied at the Honolulu Museum of Art and the University of Hawaii under Claude Horan from 1948–51.

From 1951–54, Takaezu continued her studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she befriended Finnish ceramist Maija Grotell, who became her mentor. In 1955, Takaezu traveled to Japan, where she studied Buddhism, visited Shoji Hamada and observed the techniques of traditional Japanese pottery, which continued to influence her work. She taught for 10 years at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and then from 1967–92, she taught at Princeton University, where she was awarded an honorary doctorate.

Takaezu retired in 1992 to become a studio artist, living and working in Quakertown, New Jersey, about 30 miles northwest of Princeton. In addition to her studio in New Jersey, Takaezu made many of her larger sculptures at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. She made functional wheel-thrown vessels early in her career. Later, she switched to abstract sculptures with freely applied poured and painted glazes.

In the early 1970s, when Takaezu didn’t have access to a kiln, she painted on canvas. Her work is part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among many others.

Takaezu was the recipient of the Gold Medal of the American Craft Council and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant. She lived in Hawaii for 10 years and died March 9, 2011, in Honolulu.

Find Toshiko Takaezu art for sale on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by The Nevica Project LLC)

Tashiko Tazaezu Signed Japanese Studio Pottery Closed Form With Rattle Sculpture
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful and quite engaging sumptuously glazed closed-form sculpture with rattle by renowned Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu, famed for her use of color,...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Porcelain, Pottery

Tashiko Tazaezu Signed Japanese Studio Pottery Closed Form With Rattle Sculpture
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful and quite engaging colorfully glazed closed-form sculpture with rattle by renowned Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu, famed for her use of color, texture, scale, multiple glazes, and various free-form shapes, including her orb-like moon pots. This high-fired porcelain piece features a vast array of shifting, whirling, vibrant, colorful glazes (with traces of reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, etc... ). It is a unique and one-of-a-kind work. The closed-form vessel sculpture is signed on the base with her traditional "TT" mark/ monogram. A rare and special piece. Would be a great addition to any collectors of Toshiko's work or other Mid-Century Modern...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Porcelain, Pottery

Tashiko Tazaezu Signed Japanese Hawaiian Studio Pottery Glazed Chawan Tea Bowl
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful and quite engaging sumptuously glazed relatively large Chawan tea bowl by famed Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu. The fired bowl features a drip ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Pottery, Stoneware

Toshiko Takaezu Signed Japanese Shigaraki Ware Pottery Chawan Yunomi Tea Bowl
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
An absolutely beautiful and extremely rare Shigarakai Yaki Ware Chawan tea bowl / Yunomi cup by famed Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu. The work features a gorgeous dripped glaze over a anagama kiln fired Shigaraki clay body. It is a unique and one-of-a-kind work with a very Wabi-Sabi feel to it. The piece is signed on the base with her traditional "TT" mark / monogram. Shigaraki Ware pottery comes from Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The kiln there is one of six ancient kilns in Japan (along with Echizen ware, Seto ware, Bizen ware, Tamba ware, and Tokoname ware). In 1993, Toshiko was invited to Japan by Shiro Otani to work with the quartz rich clay and local artists/potters at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park. In 1995 she made the journey there to work in master Japanese ceramicist Shiho Kanzaki's studio in Shigaraki,. We believe this work was likely created at this time. It appears few pieces that she made during this particular visit exists today as we have only seen one other work - another Chawan - that she created during this trip (The works were fired in Kanzaki's anagama kiln in February 1996 and subsequently shipped back to Toshiko in New Jersey). This particular work also encompasses the Japanese Wabi-Sabi aesthetic - the appreciation of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete in nature and embraces the principles of asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and the appreciation of both natural objects and the forces of nature upon them. Would be a great addition to any collectors of Toshiko's work or Japanese/Hawaiian pottery...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Pottery, Stoneware

Tashiko Tazaezu Signed Mid-Century Modern Japanese Hawaiian Studio Pottery Bowl
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful and quite engaging relatively large sumptuously glazed bowl by famed Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu. The high-fired porcelain bowl features a v...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Porcelain, Pottery

Tashiko Tazaezu Signed Mid-Century Japanese Hawaiian Studio Pottery Planter Bowl
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
A quite large, heavy, beautifully glazed planter/bowl by famed Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu. The high-fired stoneware planter features a myriad of shifti...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Pottery, Stoneware

Tashiko Tazaezu Signed Mid-Century Modern Japanese Hawaiian Studio Pottery Bowl
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful, relatively large sumptuously glazed bowl by famed Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu. The high-fired porcelain bowl features a shifting earth tone...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Porcelain, Pottery

Tashiko Tazaezu Signed Japanese Hawaiian Studio Pottery Glazed Chawan Tea Bowl
By Toshiko Takaezu
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful and quite engaging Chawan tea bowl by famed Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu. The fired bowl features a vast array of shifting, vibrant, and colo...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Toshiko Takaezu

Materials

Porcelain, Pottery

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Toshiko Takaezu Sale Prices

Sold DateSold PriceCategoryMaterialCreation Year
2025$1,440CeramicsPorcelain, Pottery1960s-1980s
2025$88VasesCeramic1980s
2025$854CeramicsPorcelain, Pottery1960s-1980s
2025$10,000SculpturesPorcelain, Glaze
2024$213VasesCeramic1960s
2024$275BooksPaper2006
$2,176
Average sold price of items in the past 12 months
$88-$10,000
Sold price range of items in the past 12 months

Creators Similar to Toshiko Takaezu

Toshiko Takaezu furniture for sale on 1stDibs.

Toshiko Takaezu furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of ceramic and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Toshiko Takaezu furniture, although gray editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original furniture by Toshiko Takaezu were created in the modern style in united states during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by James Lovera, Judith Leiber, and Larry Mohr. Prices for Toshiko Takaezu furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $995 and can go as high as $6,500, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $2,500.

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