Breathing Vessels: Contemporary ceramics by Yanagihara Mutsuo at Dai Ichi Arts, New York
May 15-30, 2025
In May 2025, Dai Ichi Arts is honored to present a solo exhibition of works by Yanagihara Mutsuo, celebrating a career spanning over six decades of innovation in contemporary ceramics.
Yanagihara Mutsuo (b. 1934) is a pioneering Japanese ceramic artist known for his inventive forms and playful approach to clay. Raised in a family of medical doctors in Kōchi City, his early fascination with botany and the human body would later influence his sculptural ceramics. He studied at Kyoto City University of Arts under modern masters Tomimoto Kenkichi, Kondō Yūzō, and Fujimoto Yoshimichi, graduating in 1960.
Yanagihara’s career has been shaped by international influences, particularly during his time in the United States. Teaching at Alfred University and Scripps College in the 1970s introduced him to the American studio craft movement, reinforcing his experimental and conceptual approach to ceramics.
Throughout his career, he has embraced the tension between sculpture and function, creating works that are at once playful, imaginative, and deeply rooted in ceramic tradition. Now at 90, he continues to innovate from his studio in Kyoto.
From his Silver Oribe works (Gin Oribe) and his Flower-eating vessels (Kashoku) to his most recent abstraction series titled Exhalation and Inhalation (Kōki kyūki), this exhibition brings together Yanagihara’s ceramic works that explore the visual languages of botany, anthropomorphism, and abstraction with striking clarity.
We extend our gratitude to Dr. Andreas Marks, curator of Japanese and Korean art and director of the Clark Center at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, for his retrospective article on Yanagihara Mutsuo’s career, which will be featured in the accompanying exhibition catalog.
Contact
info@daiichiarts.com
Dai Ichi Arts Ltd.
18 East 64th Street, Suite 1F
New York, NY 10065
United States
Captions
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Flower-eating Vessel (flared vessel with white glaze) 白釉 開く形, 2012, with signed wood plate, stoneware, 39.4 × 38.2 × 40.3 cm
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Anthropomorphic three-legged vessel with black glaze 黒彩三脚壺, 2007, with signed wood box, stoneware, 31.8 × 43.9 × 21.8 cm
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Pair of tubular flower vessels in the shape of Calla lilies, c. 2010-2013
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Anti-vessel (Basket form) 捻り大手付反器, 2004, with signed wood box, stoneware, 34.8 × 33.3 × 22.7 cm
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Silver Oribe Vessel with Jomon Decoration and Yayoi Form 縄文式弥生形壺 (銀オリベ), 2000, with signed wood plate, stoneware, 72 × 33 × 36.4 cm
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Tubular flower vase with white glaze 白釉筒花入, 2010-2013, with signed wood box, stoneware, 25.4 × 11.5 × 17.5 cm
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Topological Vessel: The Sound of a Pulse (standing vase with azure glaze) 碧釉トポロ立壺”鼓動を聴く'”, 2020, with signed wood box, stoneware, 30.5 × 17 × 20.8 cm
- Yanagihara Mutsuo 柳原 睦夫, Flower-eating Vessel (wide-mouthed vessel with a swollen belly) 大口鼓腹花喰ふくら壺, 2023, with signed wood box, stoneware, 34.5 × 32 × 33 cm
