Artist at home, 1984. From Kawamoto Goro: A Retrospective (Seto: Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, 2009).
(1919-1986)
Kawamoto Gorō was one of the most innovative ceramic artists in Japan. After studying various styles and techniques, he decided to give up using the wheel and devoted himself to hand-built works. Inspired by Chinese and Japanese traditional painting aesthetics, he painted each of his vessels with his unique figurative brushwork. It was Kawamoto's masterful integration of his gestural painting style with his hand-built forms that set him apart, making him a preeminent ceramist in his generation.
Collection of Minneapolis Institute of Art
Selected Public Collections:
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan
Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Seto, Japan
Kuwayama Museum, Aichi, Japan
Menard Art Museum, Aichi, Japan
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Musée Tomo, Tokyo, Japan
Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan
National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Paramita Museum, Komono, Mie, Japan
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
San Antonio Museum of Art, TX
Seto City Museum, Japan
Large slab-built rectangular black-glazed vessel with landscape scene of recessed moon with birds in flight
ca. 1961
Black glazed stoneware
23 1/4 x 26 x 5 1/2 in.
SOLD
Thinly glazed open, irregular, rectangular vessel with horizontal rows of half-moon patterning in iron-oxide glaze
1968
Glazed stoneware
11 5/8 x 12 5/8 x 7 7/8 in.
SOLD
Flattened, round-shouldered sometsuke vessel with rectangular mouth depicting thistle grasses with honeycomb-patterned sides
1953
Porcelain
10 7/8 x 5 1/2 x 3 in.
SOLD
Irregularly rounded square vessel with slashed curves
ca. 1965
Ash-glazed stoneware
8 x 9 x 7 3/4 in.
SOLD
Monumental oblong ash-glazed vessel with small, raised, torn mouth with carved abstract bird design
1963
Stoneware with ash glaze
34 1/4 x 13 x 7 7/8 in.
SOLD
Rounded sculptural vessel-form with incised, cracked front and torn mouth
ca. 1965
Glazed stoneware
17 7/8 x 13 x 11 1/4 in.
SOLD
Ash-glazed square vessel with carved striated pattern
ca. 1970
Glazed stoneware
5 x 5 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.
SOLD
Hanging, sculpted and carved plaque depicting a school of fish in marbelized clay
1963
Glazed stoneware mounted and attached by wire onto a raised black lacquer board
Ceramic: 7 1/2 x 16 3/8 x 1 1/4 in.
Overall: 11/3/4 x 23 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.
SOLD
Five-sided standing vase with dragon design
ca. 1980
Glazed stoneware
9 1/8 x 7 3/4 x 6 1/2 in.
SOLD
Square ash-glazed vase
1970s
Glazed stoneware
6 5/8 x 87/8 x 8 5/8 in.
SOLD
Beaker-shaped ash-glazed vessel with abstract bird design
ca. 1960
Ash-glazed stoneware
10 5/8 x 6 3/4 in.
SOLD
Conical covered wheel-thrown form with four fluted protruding pipes at top
1952
Porcelain
12 1/4 x 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.
SOLD
Slightly rounded open square vessel with white asymmetrical triangular design and matte brownish-black overglaze
1968
Glazed stoneware
10 5/8 x 11 x 11 3/8 in.
SOLD
Attenuated and animated pouring vessel with surface decoration of dancing figures in relief
ca. 1976
Glazed porcelain
10 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 11 3/8 in.
