As the first nationally touring retrospective of the artist’s work in 20 years, Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within connects to the MFAH’s own strength in abstract art and American studio ceramics. This exhibition offers audiences a revelatory reappraisal of the Asian American artist’s vital role within the landscape of 20th-century art.
Born of Okinawan heritage in Hawai‘i, Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011) was a groundbreaking American artist most celebrated for her prolific output of expressively glazed “closed form” ceramic sculptures that ranged in scale from palm-sized works to immersive environments. Informed by both her cross-cultural heritage and deep appreciation for nature, Takaezu radically reimagined the vessel form as a site for limitless experimentation, harnessing the potential of both abstract painting and sculpture.
Centered around her captivating ceramics, Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within presents a comprehensive portrait of the artist’s life and work, including monumental pieces from the acclaimed Star Series. Charting the development of her hybrid practice over seven decades, the exhibition presents more than 100 works of art in stunning installations often inspired by those Takaezu created during her lifetime. Rarely seen paintings and masterful weavings are also on display.
Sound plays an important role in this exhibition as many of Takaezu’s closed ceramic forms contain unseen “rattles.” To allow visitors to explore these interior soundscapes firsthand, the exhibition includes a series of demonstration videos by composer and exhibition co-curator Leilehua Lanzilotti. In addition, Lanzilotti’s immersive video the sky in our hands, our hands in the sky, commissioned for the exhibition, combines the recorded sounds of Takaezu’s closed forms with footage shot on the island of Hawai‘i—at the base of Kīlauea, the slopes of Mauna Loa, and the top of Mauna Kea. The layers of sound, texture, color, and light bring the viewer into Takaezu’s multisensory landscapes.
