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

Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds within

Toshiko Takaezu with works in Hawai‘i, 1987. Photo: Macario Timbal. Toshiko Takaezu Archives. © Family of Toshiko Takaezu

The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, Queens, NY
March 20, 2024 - July 28, 2024

Featuring approximately 200 objects from public and private collections across the country, Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within will present a comprehensive portrait of Takaezu’s life and work. This chronological retrospective will chart the development of Takaezu’s hybrid practice over seven decades, documenting her early student work in Hawai‘i and at the Cranbrook Academy through her years teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Art and later at Princeton University. To represent this evolution, the show will present a series of installations loosely inspired by ones that Takaezu created in her own lifetime: from a set table of functional wares from the early 1950s to an immersive constellation of monumental ceramic forms from the late 1990s to early 2000s.

The exhibition will include a vast collection of ceramic sculptures including her signature “closed forms,” Moons, Garden Seats, Trees, and select monumental works from her late masterpiece, the Star Series. It will also feature a broad selection of her vibrant and gestural acrylic paintings and weavings, many of which have rarely been seen, as well as a bronze bell. Sound will also play an important role in this exhibition as many of Takaezu’s closed ceramic forms contain unseen “rattles.”

The exhibition will include a range of videos, programs, and an interactive installation that will allow visitors to explore these interior soundscapes firsthand. Composer, sound artist, and exhibition co-curator Leilehua Lanzilotti (finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in music) is developing a concert program, a stand-alone video installation, and a series of demonstration videos centered on the hidden element of sound in Takaezu’s works.

Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction

Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
September 30, 2023–September 29, 2024

Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction is curated by Nonie Gadsden, the MFA Boston Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture. This exhibition will showcase Takaezu's ceramic sculptures, paintings, and weavings; and explore the profound impact of her cultural exchanges during her transformative eight-month journey to Japan in 1955–56. This exhibition is organized in partnership with the Noguchi Museum and will be on view until September 29, 2024. See the official announcement here.

7.5 " x 5", Porcelain, late 1990's. Donated by Private Collection

Beauty and the Unexpected

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
March 20, 2023 – February 23, 2024

Toshiko Takaezu is featured in the Beauty and the Unexpected exhibition at the Nationalmuseum in Sweden which features American crafts from the 1950s to the present day. The 81-piece collection, assembled by Helen W. Drutt English, includes works by renowned American designers and artists. These pieces range from jewelry to furniture, wall pieces, and textiles. The exhibition will allow visitors to view American crafts in a Nordic context. The collection was donated by artists, collectors, Helen W. Drutt English, and her family to The American Friends of Nationalmuseum of Sweden. The pieces will be added to Nationalmuseum's collections after the exhibition.

Toshiko Takaezu // Lenore Tawney

Toshiko Takaezu, *Crater Moon*, 1990s, stoneware, 22 in. diameter; *Tall Closed Form*, 1970s, stoneware, 24 1/4 x 12 in. diameter; *Tall Closed Form*, 1974, stoneware, 48 x 9 in. diameter; *Tall Closed Form*, 1980s, stoneware, 36 1/2 x 11 in. diameter; *Alchemy Gold Moon*, 1990s, stoneware, 21 in. diameter; *Tall Closed Form*, 1980s, stoneware, 35 ½ x 7 in. diameter; *Form Blue #31*, 1990, porcelain, 19 in. x 8 1/4 in. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Purchased with the Fund for Craft, 2022.6, 2022.2, 2022.3, 2022.5, 2022.4, 2021.20. Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
October 14, 2023 - March 25, 2024

Acting Windgate Curator of Craft Jen Padgett has curated the exhibition Toshiko Takaezu // Lenore Tawney, which features 12 new acquisitions to the Crystal Bridges collection that tell the story of this remarkable friendship. The exhibition highlights how these two women shaped craft history in the US by expanding and redefining the possibilities of their preferred mediums: Takaezu in ceramics, and Tawney in weaving.

Contours: The Essential Form

Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
September 30, 2023 - March 31, 2024

"Contours: The Essential Form" showcases a combination of pieces from the Museum's permanent collection and new creations by artist Ibrahim Said, exploring themes of nature, care, and discipline through ceramics and works on paper. Said's residency in October 2022, as part of the Museum's Encounter Series, involved selecting over sixty artworks from the Museum's collection and crafting three ceramic pieces inspired by Arizona's landscapes. The exhibition features a diverse lineup of artists, including Toshiko Takaezu, and is organized by Mary-Beth Buesgen and Ibrahim Said, with support from the Windgate Foundation Endowment and others.

Counter/Balance

Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
October 4, 2023–July 29, 2024

Counter/Balance: Gifts from John and Robyn Horn presents important examples of contemporary American craft, including woodworking, metalsmithing, fiber and pottery by renowned American artists Albert Paley, Hoss Haley, Toshiko Takaezu, Stoney Lamar, Mary Merkel-Hess, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Kay Sekimachi, Bob Stocksdale, and many others.

This exhibition explores the traditional craft art-making process, a human hand working with technology to transform raw materials into a new form, containing a fundamental tension between the mechanized and improvisational to achieve qualities of asymmetry and balance or forms with richly textured surfaces. Many of the objects gifted from the Horns’ collection—whether made from glass, clay, metal, fiber, or wood—highlight this tension. The dialogue between forms fashioned in a studio and shapes implicit in nature does not necessarily create conflict but rather a counterbalance, implying a desire for human interaction and unity with the beauty found in nature.

This exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and curated by Carla Funk, assistant curator.

RECENT EXHIBITIONS

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

Past exhibitions

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