Untitled Sculpture

This very important work by Yagi Kazuo, twentieth-century Japan's most celebrated avant-garde ceramic artist, was made during the seminal period when he and fellow members of the Sodeisha, the 'Crawling through Mud Association', embarked on a compelling and hugely significant exploration of abstract, sculptural ceramics.

The early years of the Sodeisha saw its members deconstruct the vessel form through a series of experiments that shocked critics and ceramics aficionados alike. The critical turning point in the decision as to whether and when 'to close the mouth of the vessel' came in 1954, when Yagi exhibited his famous 'Mr Samsa's Walk', an abstract, non-functional circular assemblage of irregular pipe-like components.