Bucket form
Takeshi Yasuda
Life Story
Takeshi Yasuda’s wheel-thrown forms are generous and voluptuous. Here the glazes drip and run over the contours of the vessel, highlighting its curves. This work is part of Yasuda’s San Cai series (See also 50782), so named due to his use of green, brown and cream glazes that reference the three colour or sancai lead-glazed ceramics of the late 7th and early 8th century Chinese Tang dynasty. [1]
Yasuda developed his San Cai work as a result of having to use an electric kiln for the first time during a residency at Cleveland Craft Centre, Middlesbrough (1984-1986). Due to the constraints of an electric kiln, Yasuda created and applied multiple tones of the same colour glaze to produce the intensity and contrast of colours seen here and across his San Cai works. [2]
Takeshi Yasuda was apprenticed at the Daisei-Gama Pottery in Mashiko, Japan, and set up his first studio there from 1963 to 1966. He moved to England in 1973 with a desire to create a different type of work from the ash-glazed wood-fired production ware he was making in Japan. The Sainsbury Centre Collection also includes Yasuda’s porcelain work made in the 2000s (see 50783, 50784 and 50785).
Sim Panaser, July 2020
[1] http://www.takeshiyasuda.com [accessed 29 July 2020]
[2] Takeshi Yasuda, interviewed by Frances Cornford, (2011), https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Crafts/021M-C0960X0100XX-0001V0 [accessed 27/04/2020].
Further Reading
Mallalieu, Fenella, A visit to Takeshi Yasuda’, Ceramic Review, 151 (January/February 1995), 10-17
http://www.takeshiyasuda.com/ [accessed 29 July 2020]
Yasuda, Takeshi, interviewed by Frances Cornford, (2011), https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Crafts/021M-C0960X0100XX-0001V0 [accessed 27/04/2020]
Not on display
Title/Description: Bucket form
Born: 1989
Measurements: h. 240mm
Accession Number: 50781
Historic Period: 20th century
Credit Line: Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from Leslie Birks Hay and allocated to SCVA, 2016
Takeshi Yasuda: "Made in China" feature film
An extraordinary documentary about internationally acclaimed potter Takeshi Yasuda. Filmed on location in China, this documentary follows Yasuda as he prepares for his 2013 ceramics exhibition at Goldmark Gallery, in celebration of his 70th birthday. The film shows Yasuda at work in his studio in Jingdezhen, porcelain capital of China. It follows him through the amazing street markets, the Labyrinth, and we visit the crafts-men and women whose working practices haven't changed for centuries. Yasuda discusses his love for clay and the challenges of working with porcelain in this intimate and moving portrait of a true artist.
