Exhibitions

Takaezu at the opening of ''Toshiko Takaezu Ceramics, Weaving, and Painting'', at the Honolulu Academy of Art, 1973. Photographer unknown. Toshiko Takaezu Archives

Exhibition History

Exhibition history is researched and compiled by Kate Wiener, Curator at The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.

Current Exhibitions

East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art

Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio
April 15 - August 16, 2026

Toshiko Takaezu (American, 1922–2011), *Makaha Blue Closed Form*, c. 1990s. Stoneware with glazes. Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Gift of the artist, 2008.230. Artwork © Family of Toshiko Takaezu

East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art examines how the migration of people across the Pacific has shaped American art and culture from the nineteenth century to the present. The exhibition brings together works by more than thirty Asian American artists, including Ruth Asawa, Bernice Bing, Dong Kingman, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Chiura Obata, Roger Shimomura, and Toshiko Takaezu. At the Columbus Museum of Art, the presentation is expanded with works from the museum's American collection and paintings by contemporary artists of the Asian diaspora from its Scantland Collection.

Takaezu is represented in the show by Makaha Blue Closed Form, which she gave to the Cantor in 2008. She began closing her forms in the late 1950s and continued with these abstractions for the rest of her life. Makaha is a valley on the leeward coast of O'ahu. She used the name for a group of works, including the Makaha Blue Forest she showed in New York in 1997.

Organized by the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University as part of its Asian American Art Initiative and curated by Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander, Robert M. and Ruth L. Halperin Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Co-Director of the Initiative. First presented at the Cantor in 2022. The Columbus presentation is organized by Molly K. Eckel, Shackelford Family Assistant Curator of American Art, with Grace Tran, Art Bridges Fellow. The Cantor acknowledges support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and Pamela and David Hornik.

Upcoming Exhibitions

2026

Kaihō: Japanese Women Artists

Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg
September 25, 2026 – February 14, 2027

Takaezu family and tour group in front of the Great Buddha in Kamakura, Japan, 1955. Photographer unknown. Toshiko Takaezu papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Kaihō: Japanese Women Artists after 1945 is the first major European survey dedicated to the contributions of Japanese women artists in the postwar era. The exhibition brings together more than 120 works by thirty-four artists, including Toshiko Takaezu, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Atsuko Tanaka, and Fujiko Nakaya. Spanning the 1950s through the 1990s, it examines the remarkable diversity of artistic practices that emerged in the decades following the Second World War, from Gutai through experiments in video, and considers themes of abstraction, performance, craft, and cultural exchange. Many of the works have rarely been shown outside Japan.

Organized by Mudam Luxembourg in collaboration with Lenbachhaus Munich and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Curated by Florence Ostende, assisted by Anaël Daoud and Yurika Imaseki. Following its presentation in Luxembourg, the exhibition travels to Munich and Bilbao through March 2028.

Toshiko Takaezu: ROUNDER THAN ROUND

Toshiko Takaezu with "Moons," 1979, photograph by Hiro. Artwork © Family of Toshiko Takaezu.

UCCA Clay, Yixing, China
November 7, 2026 - March 7, 2027

Toshiko Takaezu at UCCA Clay marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in China, presenting a survey of nearly five decades of her work and offering a focused introduction to one of the most innovative figures in postwar American art.

Organized by UCCA Clay, the exhibition traces the evolution of Takaezu’s practice from early functional vessels to her signature “closed forms,” sealed ceramic sculptures that redefine the medium’s sculptural and expressive possibilities. A Japanese American artist born and raised in Hawai‘i, Takaezu developed a multidisciplinary approach informed by Abstract Expressionism, East Asian philosophy, and the natural environment, while remaining independent of any single movement or tradition.

The exhibition follows this progression closely, beginning with functional vessels and early formal experiments with teapot openings, and culminating in fully enclosed forms with only small vent holes. These rounded, nonfunctional volumes became surfaces for her painterly use of glaze and color, giving rise to major series such as “Moons” and “Trees.” In later works, these forms expand into large-scale installations approaching human scale, reflecting her sustained engagement with nature, cosmology, and the concept of inner space.

A defining element of Takaezu’s practice, her incorporation of sound, is also present. What began as an accident, when clay fragments became enclosed within her vessels, evolved into one of her most distinctive innovations, producing subtle internal rattles that activate the sculptures as both visual and auditory objects.

In addition to ceramics, the exhibition includes examples of Takaezu’s work in textiles and painting, underscoring the breadth of her cross-media exploration.

The exhibition is organized by UCCA Clay with the support of the Toshiko Takaezu Foundation.

2027

Afterlives: Japanese American Artists and the Postwar Era

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
February 28 – September 12, 2027

Afterlives looks at what a generation of Japanese American artists, photographers, and designers made in the years after Executive Order 9066, which forced 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast into wartime incarceration camps. The exhibition follows the artistic exchange that continued across the Pacific through those decades and positions this work inside the larger history of postwar modernism.

Takaezu was born in Pepe'ekeo, on the island of Hawai'i, to Okinawan immigrant parents. Hawai'i's Japanese American population was not subject to the mass removals carried out on the mainland, and her postwar years were spent between Hawai'i, Cranbrook, Japan, and New Jersey.

Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and curated by Clara Kim, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, with guest curator Kris Kuramitsu and curatorial assistant Ariana Rizo. Lead support is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the MOCA Global Council, the Henry Luce Foundation, Teiger Foundation, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Past exhibitions

2024-2026

Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawai‘i, February 14 - July 26, 2026
Toshiko Takaezu: Voices of Abstraction,The Hyde Collection, Glen Falls, New York, April 11 - July 19, 2026x
Toshiko Takaezu: Dialogues in Clay, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, October 31, 2025 - July 5, 2026
Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, Chazen Museum of Art, Wisconsin, September 8 - December 23, 2025
Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, March 2 - May 18, 2025
Wild Earth: JB Blunk and Toshiko Takaezu, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, March 7 - August 3, 2025
Soft / Cover, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA, October 9, 2024 - August 17, 2025
Sculptures of Okinawa: Post-War Modern Sculptures, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, Naha, Okinawa, Japan, July 13, 2024 - July 1, 2025
Toshiko Takaezu, David Zwirner Gallery, LA, 2024-2025
Lenore Tawney & Toshiko Takaezu: A Remarkable Friendship, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, England, November 15, 2024 - January 11, 2025
18 Women: 50 Years, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, November 19, 2024 - January 25, 2025

2024

Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI , October 9, 2024 - January 12, 2025
Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA, September 30, 2023–September 29, 2024
Full Circle: Toshiko Takaezu and Friends, LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York, March 30, 2024 – August 4, 2024
Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, Queens, NY
Toshiko Takaezu: Beyond Form, David Zwirner Gallery, New York, NY

2023- 2024

Counter/Balance, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
Contours: The Essential Form, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Toshiko Takaezu // Lenore Tawney, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Beauty and the Unexpected, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden

2022 - 2023

East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Asian American Art Initiative (AAAI), Stanford, CA
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
Craft Front & Center, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY

2022

The Milk of Dreams, 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2021-2022

Intuition & Reflection: The Ceramics of Toshiko Takaezu, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
No Monument: In the Wake of the Japanese American Incarceration, Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, Long Island City, NY

2021

Crafting America, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Shapes from Out of Nowhere: Ceramics from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
OBJECTS: USA 2020, R and Company, New York, NY
Hard/Cover, The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM), Philadelphia, PA
With Eyes Opened: Cranbrook Academy of Art Since 1932, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
A Chronicle of Modern Crafts: Works from the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Women Take the Floor, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA
20/20: Twenty Women Artists of the Twentieth Century, David Owsley Museum of Art, Ball State University, Muncie, IA

2020 - 2021

Look to Nature: Toshiko Takaezu, Arizona State University Art Museum, Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, AZ
Shapeshifters: Transformation in Contemporary Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI

2019-2020

In The Vanguard: Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 1950-1969, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine & Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
It’s Like Poetry: Building a Toshiko Takaezu Archive at RAM, Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Global Perspectives: Highlights from the Contemporary Collection, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

2019

Collective identity: The Legacy of Apprenticeship under Toshiko Takaezu, Noyes Museum of Art, Noyes Arts Garage, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Toshiko Takaezu: The Closed Form, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, Ledge Gallery, East Lansing, Michigan
Food for Thought, Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio
Clayblazers: Women Artists from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
Spiritual by Nature, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, New York

2018

A Personal Process: The Art and Life of Toshiko Takaezu, Morris Hall Art Gallery, Columbus Academy, Gahanna, Ohio

2015-2016

The Ceramic Presence in Modern Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

2015

Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Mid-Century and Today, Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York
O Pioneers! Women Ceramic Artists 1925-1960, Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, New York
Museum of Stones – Ancient and Contemporary Art, The Noguchi Museum, New York, New York

2014

Beyond Craft: Decorative Arts from the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, Houston Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2011-2012

Toshiko Takaezu: The Paintings, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii

2011

Toshiko Takaezu From Private Collections: The Memorial Exhibition, Long House Reserve, East Hampton, New York
Toshiko Takaezu Tribute, Schacht Art Gallery, Saratoga Clay Arts Center, Schuylerville, New York

2010

In Memory of My Parents: An Exhibition by Takaezu Toshiko, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, Naha City, Okinawa

2009

Toshiko Takaezu’s Ceramics: Gifts from the Artist in Honor of The Contemporary Museum’s 20th Anniversary and Promised Gifts from Hawaii Collections, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Toshiko Takaezu, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, Oregon
Toshiko Takaezu, Ceramic Artist, Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Toshiko Takaezu, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey

2008

Toshiko Takaezu, Japanese American Master, Artworks Spanning Five Decades, Kean University, Union, New Jersey
Toshiko Takaezu: Ceramics, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Toshiko Takaezu: A Gift to Cranbrook, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Toshiko Takaezu: Recent Gifts to the Trout Gallery and dedication of Autumn II, The Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Masters in Clay: Toshiko Takaezu and Peter Voulkos, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey
Generations: Works by Jun Kaneko and Toshiko Takaezu, Mayer Art Center, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire

2007–08

The Ceramics of Toshiko Takaezu: Function, Form and Surface, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Toshiko Takaezu: Master Ceramist, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia

2007

Echoes of the Earth: Ceramics by Toshiko Takaezu, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Toshiko Takaezu: The Art of Clay, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Greensboro, North Carolina

2006

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Toshiko Takaezu, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York
Works by Toshiko Takaezu, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey

2005

Toshiko Takaezu: Heaven and Earth, Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Bronze Bells by Toshiko Takaezu, LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York
Toshiko Takaezu: The Art of Clay, Japanese American National Museum, UCLA International Institute, Los Angeles, California
Toshiko Takaezu: Selected Work, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

2004

The Poetry of Clay: The Art of Toshiko Takaezu, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2003

Toshiko Takaezu: Recent Work, Ohr-O’Keeffe Museum, Biloxi, Mississippi

2002

Recent Sculpture, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York
Toshiko Takaezu, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York

2001

Toshiko Takaezu, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, New York
An Essential Balance, Works by Toshiko Takaezu, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii

2000

Toshiko Takaezu, An Essential Balance, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Toshiko Takaezu: The Star Series, Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin (confirm with Racine that they had this show???? AR)

1999

Toshiko Takaezu, Westby Art Gallery, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey
Toshiko Takaezu: Stoneware and Porcelain, Hartnell College Gallery, Salinas, California

1998

Toshiko Takaezu: At Home, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey

1997

Toshiko Takaezu: New Work, Featuring the Makaha Blue Forest, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York and Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
The Art of Toshiko Takaezu, American Craft Museum, New York, New York and Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

1996

The Art of Toshiko Takaezu, Nathan H. Wilson Center for the Arts, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Florida
The Art of Toshiko Takaezu, Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana and Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma

1995

Ceramics by Toshiko Takaezu, The Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Lebanon Valley College of Pennsylvania, Annville, Pennsylvania
Toshiko Takaezu: Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; The Gallery of the City of Naha, Okinawa, Japan; Takaoka Museum, Takaoka, Japan; Seto Ceramics Museum, Nagoya, Japan

1994

Outdoor Sculpture, LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York
Toshiko Takaezu: New Works, Forum for Contemporary Art, Saint Louis, Missouri
Toshiko Takaezu: A Forty Year Survey 1954-1994, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey
The Cranbrook Years, Habatat/Shaw Gallery, Farmington Hills, Michigan

1993

Toshiko Takaezu: Four Decades of Work 1950–1992, Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center, Makawao, Hawaii
Toshiko Takaezu: 1980-1992, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Toshiko Takaezu: 1950-1980, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii
Toshiko Takaezu, The Gallery, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, Michigan
Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York

1992

Toshiko Takaezu Recent Work, Morris Gallery, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Toshiko Takaezu, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York

1990-92

Four Decades, The Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey; traveled to Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

1990

Toshiko Takaezu, Sculpture, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

1989

Toshiko Takaezu: 1989-1990, The Gallery at Bristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, New Jersey
Toshiko Takaezu, Volcano Art Center and Hawaii Community College, Hawaii
Toshiko Takaezu, The Kamehameha Schools, Midkiff Learning Center, The Kamehameha Schools Campus, Honolulu, Hawaii
Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, Michigan

1988

Toshiko Takaezu: Tapestries and Recent Ceramics, University Center Gallery, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Edwardsville, Illinois
Toshiko Takaezu, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey

1987

Toshiko Takaezu: New Work, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illnois
Toshiko Takaezu: Ceramics and Bronze Exhibition, Hau-Pulamamau Kuakini Hospital, Honolulu, Hawaii

1985

Inaugural Exhibit: Recent Works of Toshiko Takaezu, South Gallery, Florida Junior College at Jacksonville, Florida

1984

Toshiko Takaezu Ceramics and Bronzes, James R. Gallagher Gallery/Community Gallery of Lancaster, Community College of Lancaster, Pennsylvania

1983

Ceramics, Textiles and Bronzes, Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Arts in Media, Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York

1981

Serenity in Fiber, Bronze and Ceramic Forms, Belks Art Gallery, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina
Hadler/Rodriguez Gallery, New York, New York
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1980

Toshiko Takaezu, Contemporary Crafts Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Garden Island Arts Center, Kaua’i, Hawaii
Toshiko Takaezu and Lenore Tawney, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Wisconsin

1979

Toshiko Takaezu: Ceramics & Weaving, Haas Gallery, Bloomsburg State College, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
Toshiko Takaezu, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey

1977

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama

1976

Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5th Annual Ceramics West/One Woman Honor Exhibition, Utah State University Galleries, Utah State University, Logan, Utah

1975

Toshiko Takaezu: A Special Exhibition of Ceramics, Paintings, Rugs concurrent with the unveiling of Moon Pots, Hawai’i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, University of Hawaii, Hilo, Hawaii

1973

Toshiko Takaezu: One Man Exhibit of Ceramics, Weaving, and Painting, Main Gallery, Florida Junior College at Jacksonville, South Campus, Jacksonville, Florida
Toshiko Takaezu: Ceramics, Weaving and Painting, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii
Hunterdon Art Center, Clinton, New Jersey

1972

Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York

1971

Takaezu and Larsen, Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York
Toshiko Takaezu: Potter, Weaver, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Boise Art Association, Boise Gallery of Art, Boise, Idaho
Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon

1968

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

1966

Contemporary Arts Center of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii

1965

Edinboro State College, Edinboro, Pennsylvania
Gallery 100, Princeton, New Jersey
Ceramics and Textiles, Society of Arts & Crafts, Boston, Massachusetts

1963

Art Institute of Zanesville, Zanesville, Ohio
University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

1962

State University College of Education, Oneonta, New York
The Ohio State University School of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska

1961–1962

The Pottery of Toshiko Takaezu, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, New York and Honolulu, Hawaii

1961

Peabody Museum, Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee
Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Artist of the Month, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska