Toshiko Takaezu

James Cohan is pleased to present an exhibition of monumental sculptures by the late artist Toshiko Takaezu (b. 1922, Pepeekeo, Hawaii - d. 2011, Honolulu, Hawaii) on view from May 16 through July 25, 2025, at the gallery’s 48 Walker Street location. Takaezu was a figurehead of the American craft movement of the last century, whose lengthy career spanned the 1950s into the 2000s. While she is widely celebrated for her painterly ceramics, Takaezu spent three decades mastering the dimensional possibilities of bronze. Toshiko Takaezu: Bronzes foregrounds her series of outdoor sculptures in the medium. 

Takaezu’s initial foray into bronze was tied to her strong interest in the natural world. Starting in the 1980s, she worked closely with a team of artists and apprentices at the Johnson Atelier in New Jersey to render her creations using the lost-wax casting process. Takaezu’s soaring Stack Forms, ca. 1982-4, were directly inspired by her series of ceramic River Stones: convex circular forms glazed in tones akin to a riverbed of pebbles, such as earthy ochres and soft whites. In the main gallery, tall trunks in rich blue and green patinas are cradled by white pebbles and flanked by otherworldly globes. Tree-Man Forest, 1989, is a reverential meditation on both the precarity and resilience of natural life. Takaezu was deeply moved by a trip she took in 1973 to “Devastation Trail” on the Big Island of Hawaii, where she encountered the scorched forest of native trees laid bare by the volcanic eruption of Kīlauea Iki of 1959. Takaezu paid homage to this tragedy first in clay, and then in bronze, giving permanence to these majestic forms and embedding them into the land. 

The epic Three Graces, ca. 2000s, emits a powerful anthropomorphic presence; one that visitors can engage with as they circumnavigate each form. Takaezu’s first iteration of Three Graces was cast in 1994 and is installed at Grounds For Sculpture in New Jersey. These sculptures echo Takaezu’s classical tall ‘closed forms’ and showcase the artist’s mastery of gesture, visible in her application of dripping chemical patinas in deep blues, blacks and greens. In Greek mythology, the Three Graces were the daughters of Zeus–goddesses of beauty, charm and grace, often depicted together, interlaced in mid-dance The martyred saints Faith, Hope, and Charity, represent three similar theological virtues in Christian theology. These overlapping concepts are embodied in these monumental and undulating bronzes, forever linked as a trio. 

The singular resonant Untitled (Bell), ca. 2000s, perfectly concretizes Takaezu’s interest in sound and materiality. It is one of several forms that were inspired by the ceremonial bells of Japanese temples, and is similarly reliant on the strike of a mallet to produce a deep vibrational ring. This imposing bronze bell hangs from a custom interlocking wooden frame designed by the artist. Its dimensional surface resulted from Takaezu pouring hot wax in linear motions over the domed mold prior to its casting; an action that harkens back to her dynamic glazing process. 

Toshiko Takaezu’s bold experimentations in bronze pushed the artist beyond a singular and rigid identity anchored in craft. Takaezu’s sculptures are monuments that reflect the natural world; fusing gesture and form through material permanence. Toshiko Takaezu: Bronzes unites carefully considered groupings which serve as sites for contemplation that engage the senses.