Asian Art Museum San Francisco - Revered Japanese ceramic master Goro Suzuki has had a long, successful career, beginning as a production potter and continuing to today. He trained in traditional Japanese pottery techniques, and his inspiration is rooted in the traditional styles, particularly the Mino traditions of the Momoyama Period and the Edo Period. He is particularly known for his work in the Oribe style which features simple geometric designs and a dark green copper glaze with white slip. Rather than following the old style strictly, however, he employs non-traditional designs, fanciful brushwork, and brings a fresh and often humorous approach to his ware. In addition to being a
studio artist Suzuki has traveled widely and served as a Visiting Scholar at both Cranbrook
Academy of Art and Rhode Island School of Art and Design. From his travels he incorporates the ceramic styles of other cultures into his own work, further enriching his contribution to Japanese ceramic tradition.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT – GORO SUZUKI
“I live and work in the Oribe tradition and in the traditional area of old Oribe, but I rebel against my strict training in traditional ceramics.”1
1. Archival files of Susan Harnly Peterson, Ceramics Research Center, Arizona State
University, Tempe, AZ
RESUME – GORO SUZUKI
1941 Born, Toyota City, Aichi, Japan
1961 Governor of Aichi Prefecture Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition, 1961
1962 Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition, 1962
1966 Grand Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition, 1966
1971 Award, Third Chunichi International Ceramic Exhibition
1975 Rhode Island School of Art and Design, Visiting Scholar
Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition, 1975
1982 Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, Visiting Scholar
2001 Japan Ceramic Society Prize
Present Ceramic artist, Japan
BIOGRAPHY – GORO SUZUKI
Japanese ceramic artist Goro Suzuki has devoted most of his life to his craft. As a teenager, learning to throw, he would sacrifice sleep to practice throwing, his goal to make 1,000 yunomi (tea cups) in one day. For over three years he practiced, timing himself with a stopwatch next to the wheel, and ultimately was able to make a cup in 30 seconds. He not only met his goal of 1,000 tea cups in one day, he surpassed it, ultimately making 1,250 cups in a ten hour period. At that point he declared himself satisfied with his skill. Throughout his career he has drawn on the traditions of Japanese pottery, particularly the Mino traditions of the Momoyama Period (1568-1715) and the Edo Period (1603-1867) including Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto (yellow Seto), Setoguro (black Seto) and Karatsu for inspiration.
Suzuki is noted for his work in the traditional Oribe style. Oribe ware dates from around 1600 and is named for tea master and warrior Furuta Oribe (1545-1615.) This high-fired ware has simple designs incorporating geometric shapes and a dark green copper glaze along with white slip, underglaze design, finished with a clear glaze. Rather than sticking rigidly to making copies of old masters, however, Suzuki employs an element of freedom in his work, including humor and passion. Sake cups may resemble traditional ware but instead of being thin and light, these are heavy and solid, the brushwork designs fanciful as well as traditional. His work has been further broadened by assimilating the styles of other cultures; a trip to Los Angeles in the late 1960’s inspired his “Los Angeles Oribe chairs” – large, whimsical and a bit wobbly, and even tea bowls decorated with the ubiquitous Los Angeles traffic jams. Other pieces include folding screens, large tea pots, smoking pipes (for use with the tea ceremony), stacked boxes, very large plates and jars so large the artist has to use a forklift and ladder to get into them and which are painted both inside and out. The artist has said that making such large works is like “…sumo-wrestling with my wheel.”1
Suzuki also works in the pottery style known as yobitsugi, which is the grafting together of
different style pottery shards to make a new pot. Suzuki uses pots made expressly for this
purpose, breaks them into shards, and then fires the shards with different glazes. The glazed pieces are then soldered together with gold, resulting in a patchwork effect pot.
Goro Suzuki has had a long career from his start as a production potter over forty years ago to his present status as a highly revered master of ceramic arts. His work is widely collected both in Japan and throughout the world and is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Marer Collection, Scripps College, in the United States; the Seto-city Culture Center and the Meito Art Museum in Japan; and the Hetsens Museum in Germany among others. He has been the recipient of a number of awards including most recently the Japan Ceramic Society Prize in 2001. In addition he has served as a Visiting Scholar at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, and the Rhode Island School of Art and Design.
1. Quoted in: http://www.e-yakimono.net/html/suzuki-goro-jt.html
Robert Yellin. “Oribe Goes to L.A., The Work of Suzuki Goro.” Written for The Japan Times
(July 9 2003).
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY – GORO SUZUKI
Books and Catalogs
Milward, Peter, and Goro Suzuki. England, America, Japan. [Japan]: Yumi Press, 1981.
Ollman, Leah, and Steven Portigal. 2006 Ceramic Annual: Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, January 21 – April 9 2006. Santa Barbara, CA: Perpetua Press, 2006.
Periodicals
Cann, Tyler. “Goro Suzuki: Frank Lloyd Gallery: Santa Monica, CA.” American Ceramics 14
no. 3 (2004): 62.
Stuchbery, David. “Expanding Horizons or Tunnel Vision: Woodfire Conferences in Review.” Ceramics Technical no. 11 (2000): 95-101.
Suzuki Gorō has revitalized the aesthetics of classical oribe ware with his unrivalled inventiveness. His most groundbreaking technique, called yobitsugi [patchwork], demonstrates his playful nature. In this process, Suzuki first cuts a completed and fired vessel into several pieces, where each part is differently glazed and fired at the appropriate temperature. Then, he assembles these fired pieces using lacquer to glue them into the final shape. This technique enables him to produce pieces larger than his kiln might otherwise accommodate. His aesthetics are traditional yet playful, classical yet avant-garde. Through his endless creativity, Suzuki makes each of his vessels different and unique.
1941 Born in Toyota City, Aichi
1969 Visited the U.S.A.
1975 Visiting Scholar, Rhode Island School of Art and Design
1982 Visiting Scholar, Cranbrook Academy of Art, MI
Awards:
1961 Nitten (Japan Art Academy Award)
Governor of Aichi Prefecture Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition ’61
1962 Grand Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition ’62
1966 Grand Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition ’66
1971 Encouragement Award, The Third Chunichi International Ceramic Exhibition
1975 Grand Prize, Asahi Ceramic Arts Exhibition ’75
2002 Japanese Ceramics Society Prize
Solo Exhibitions:
1970 Gallery Q, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
1977 Seibu Art Gallery, Ikebukuro, Tokyo (also in ‘81)
1978 Maruei Art Gallery, Nagoya (biannually through ‘88)
1979 Inui Gallery, Tokyo
1986 Dai-ichi Arts Gallery, Nagoya (annually through ‘92)
1989 The World of Mishichida, Maruei Art Gallery, Nagoya
1990 Akamatsu Gallery, Tokyo (also in ‘91 and ‘92)
1994 Kenbishi Gallery, Kariya (also in ‘95)
1995 Fujinoya, Sano
Kan Gallery, Ashikaga
1996 Isetan Salon, Shinjuku, Tokyo
1997 The World of Suzuki Gorō, Sun Gallery, Nagoya
1998 Seigetsudō Gallery, Tokyo
Fifty-five Tea Bowls, Maruei Salon, Nagoya
Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (also in ‘99 and ‘03)
2000 Gorō’s Universe, Takashimaya Salon, Tokyo
2001 Sun Gallery Sumie
2003 Narumi Oribe Exhibition, Gallery Goro, Tokyo
Maruei Art Gallery, Nagoya (again in ’08)
2004 Kiseto World Exhibition, Gallery Goro, Tokyo
2005 Clay Patchwork, Takashimaya Salon, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya
2006 The World in Black, Gallery Sumie, Nagoa
Gallery Goro, Tokyo (again in ’07)
2009 Tale of four cities, Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka
2010 Shino and Stone, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2011 Suzuki Goro 100 masterpieces- Kiseto, Shino and Oribe, Gallery Kembishi, Nagoya
2013 Uma (Horses), Gallery Kenbishi, Nagoya
2014 Goribe, Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya
2015 “Live in Earth, Play in Earth”, Menard Art Museum, Komaki, Aichi
Group Exhibitions:
1964 Kōfūkai 50th Anniversary Exhibition
2002 Charaku sannin ten; Three Tea Pot Masters: Kakurezaki Ryūichi, Miwa Kazuhiko and Suzuki Gorô, Seigetsudō Gallery, Tokyo
Nihon Tōji Kyōkai Shō (Japanese Ceramic Society Prize) two person exhibition, Wako, Tokyo
2009 Shizen no Shi / Nature’s Poem, Joan B Mirviss LTD, New York, NY
Contemporary Studio Ceramics, California State University at Sacramento, CA
2010 Bizen tokkuris & Karatsu guinomis, Shibuya Kuroda-tōen Gallery, Tokyo
2011 Gold Award Winners from Japan Ceramic Society, Wako Hall, Tokyo
2014 Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo. Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Hand and Wheel – Contemporary Japanese Clay, Portland Art Museum, OR
2015 Ancient to Modern – Japanese Contemporary Ceramics and their Sources,
San Antonio Museum of Art, TX
2016 A Palette for Genius- Japanese Water Jars for the Tea Ceremony, Asia Week New York exhibition in collaboration with Shibuya Kurodateon Co., Joan B Mirviss LTD, New York, NY
Museum Collections:
Cancer Research Center, Seto
Seto-Aichi Doctor Association Center, Seto
Seto-city Culture Center
Hetsens Museum, Dusseldorf, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Marer Collection, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
Meito Art Museum, Komaki
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Nishin Culture Center, Nishin
Toyota City
References:
“Ceramic Artists in Aichi.” Honoho geijutsu, no. 70 (Abe shuppan, 2002): 19-23.
“Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo. Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art.” (MFA Publications: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2013).
“Oribe niwa yaritsukusarete inai koto ga madamada aru” [Issues that Remain to be Discussed Regarding Oribe]” Tōjirō 30 (Tokyo: Futabasha, 2002): 35-38.
Exhibition Catalogue, Gorō no uchū: Momoyama no shūru [Goro’s Universe: Surrealism in the time of Momoyama period]. (Tokyo: Nihon keizai shinbunsha, 2000)
Exhibition Catalogue, Suzuki Gorō gojū-go wan ten [55 tea bowls by Suzuki Gorō]. (Nagoya: Maruei, 1998)
Exhibition Catalogue, Suzuki Gorō: Tōgei yobitsugi no sekai ten [Ceramics to be transmitted for the 21st century]. (Toyota: Toyotashi nōgakudō, 2000)
Sasayama Hiroshi, ed. Towards a 20th Century Renaissance in Ceramics, “Suzuki Goro- Master of the Potter’s Wheel”, vol. 1, (Tokyo: Dohosha, 1997), pp. 237-264.
Suzuki Gorō ten [Suzuki Gorō’s ceramic box]. (Nagoya: Maruei, 1993)
The Contemporary Potters and Works in Japan, vol. 2 Central Division. (Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1996): 216
Honoho Geijutsu, Autumn 2015. pp. 106-107. English Summary p. 6. - Joan Mirviss