Yanagihara Mutsuo's works on view are daring, devotional, and wholly unique. They resist easy categorization and challenge conventional perspectives.
Expansive, curving edges, spiraling motifs, and meticulously articulated interiors draw the viewer’s gaze inward, inviting contemplation of both surface and depth. Swelling forms in pot-bellied vessels, and flaring rims imbues vessels with strength and presence. Every angle of a vessel reveals new tensions, new rhythms, new breath. His objects are modern, in constant flux and motion. Their mutable forms evoke a sense of movement and transformation, imbuing them with a lifelike quality.
Yanagihara was a student of Tommimoto Kenkichi, Kondō Yūzō, and Fujimoto Nōdō. He also traveled widely and taught at Alfred University, weaving a global thread through his practice. His career and vision may well resonate with those who are fans and followers of their work.
Yanagihara's teachers: Tomimoto Kenkichi (pictured to the right) and Kondō Yūzō (pictured to the left) photographed in Kyoto, 1956. Image courtesy Tomimoto Kenkichi Public Domain Archives and the Tsujimoto Isamu Collection.
We are grateful to Dr. Andreas Marks (Minneapolis Institute of Art), who contributed a thoroughly researched article for our exhibition catalog. There is no comparable publication in the English language on Yanagihara’s work- nor, by extension, on the role of American Pop and Funk influences within the landscape of modern and contemporary Japanese ceramics.
Yanagihara Mutsuo, Laughing Mouth Vessel, 1985, stoneware decorated with gold over blue and yellow glazes, 48.8 × 32.7 × 28 cm. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom. Image courtesy of the musuem.
Yanagihara’s celebrated career offers a crucial lens through which to understand how these global visual languages were interpreted, adapted, and transformed in postwar Japan. We are also delighted that the respected ceramics publication Honoo Geijutsu (The Art of Fire) has published his essay on the occasion of our exhibition. We hope this exhibition and its catalog begin to fill that long-standing gap in scholarship and appreciation. This show is a tribute to a visionary artist in the world of Japanese ceramics. We thank you for visiting us, and hope his works brings you life and joy.
-- Beatrice Chang
Director, Dai Ichi Arts
Yanagihara Mutsuo pictured in his studio working on a piece from his series titled Exhalation and Inhalation (Koki kyūki) in 2024. Photo: Koroda Takeru.
Yanagihara Mutsuo's solo exhibition "Breathing Vessels" on view at Dai Ichi Arts, May 2025.
Breathing Vessels: a group of Flower Eating Vessels, 2023.
Yanagihara Mutsuo, Vase, 1967, stoneware, 18.4 × 27.9 × 27.9 cm. © Seattle Art Museum, Gift in honor of Millard B. Rogers (93.14). Image courtesy of the museum.
Yanagihara Mutsuo, Vase, 1971, glazed stoneware, Awarded the prize of 29th (1971) International Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art, International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy. Image courtesy of MIC Faenza.
To view works in Japanese collections, please visit the Japanese National Museum of Modern Art website here.