Black pottery screen (kokutō no sukuriin)
In his early work, Yamada used clay balls as static surface decoration. Those seen here evolved into labor-intensive movable components about 1980, once the artist became a professor of art at the Osaka University of the Arts and had access to student assistance. Because black pottery had been Yagi Kazuo’s signature medium, Yamada did not start using it until after his friend died. This screen was blackened by burnishing the clay and firing it in a low-temperature, smoky atmosphere so that it absorbed particles of carbon.
Artwork Details
- 山田光作 黒陶のスクリーン
- Title: Black pottery screen (kokutō no sukuriin)
- Artist: Yamada Hikaru (Japanese, 1923–2001)
- Period: Shōwa period (1926–89)
- Date: 1982
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Smoke-infused stoneware
- Dimensions: 19 1/2 × 15 5/8 × 2 7/8 in. (49.5 × 39.7 × 7.3 cm)
- Classification: Ceramics
- Credit Line: Gift of Halsey and Alice North, 2017
- Object Number: 2017.166.19
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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