Bird, White Brushmark Pattern

Yagi Kazuo　1918-1979

Yagi  Kazuo  was  born  in  Kyoto ,  the  son  of  Yago Issō, a potter of traditional  idioms, was a 20th century Japan’s most important avant-garde  ceramic  artist.   He  had  a  keen  sense  of  beauty  and  witty intelligence  with  broad  interest  in poetry, music and photography. Yagi together with others formed an avant-garde ceramic movement called    Sōdeisha ,    ‘Crawling  through  Mud  Association’  in  1948 , embarking  on  an  exploration  of  abstract ,  sculptural ceramics. His epoch-making  work,  Mr. Samsa’s Walk (1954), discarded the form of a  thrown  vessel  with  decision  ‘to  close  the  mouth  of the vessel’, developing  a new genre called "Objét-yaki" –neither pure sculpture nor  vessel  but  objét.  He continued  exploring the power of form in unglazed   stoneware  and  highly  conceptual  ‘Kokutō’,  black  ware.  Yagi   also   excelled  in  functional  pots.  His  revolutionary  creation overturned the classical tradition of ceramics and opened new paths for clay artists in Japan.

w60.7×d18.0×h46.0 cm

1969

Keichitsu no Tsubo Pot, The day on which hibernating insects awake

w16.0×d12.4×h20.4 cm

Figure, Bronze

w19.6×h21.4 cm

1969

c.1971