Toshiko Takaezu Signed Mid-Century Modern Glazed Ceramic Pottery Chawan Tea Bowl

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...

A unique and rare piece by influential Mid-Century Modern ceramist Glen Lukens whose work has become very collectible and relatively scarce and difficult to find. Lukens was the founder of the University of Southern California...

A wonderfully crafted and beautifully glazed (in Fall greens and browns) large bowl/vase by renowned American potter Laura Andreson. Gorgeous in its Mid-Century Modern design and shifting colors. Signed on the base by Andreson. A quite special and rare work. Certainly, one of the best pieces of Andreson's work we have had the pleasure to come across. Highly collectible. Would be a great addition to any midcentury ceramics collection or a very eye-catching stand-alone work in about any setting. Andreson, who studied under Glen Lukens, founded and headed the ceramics department at UCLA from 1933-1970. Her work can be found in many collections and museums worldwide including: Metropolitan Museum of Art The Museum of Modern Art Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Smithsonian Museum of American Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Walker Art Center The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Her exhibitions include: 1937 Rene Rosenthal Gallery, New York City, New York. 1938 First California Ceramic Exhibition, San Diego, California 1940 Honolulu Academy of Art. 1947 Eleventh National Ceramics Exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1970 Fredric Art Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, California. 1970 Laguna Beach Art Gallery. 1971 Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, California. 1971 Hoover Art Gallery, San Francisco, California. 1971 San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, California. 1971 Utah State University, Logan, Utah. 1972 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, California. 1972 Ceramics West, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. 1972 Ogden Art Center, Ogden, Utah. 1972 Bower Museum, Santa Ana, California. 1973 Utah Museum of Fine Art, Salt Lake City, Utah. 1973 Clay and Fiber Gallery, Taos, New Mexico. 1973 California Crafts VIII, Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California. 1974 California Ceramics...

A beautiful and quite engaging sumptuously glazed Chawan tea bowl by famed Japanese Hawaiian American pottery master Toshiko Takaezu. The fired bowl features a vast array of shifting...