17. Suzuki Osamu  鈴木 治

Suzuki Osama was born in Kyoto in 1926 and died in 2021. He grew up with the art of pottery from an early age, his father Ugenji Suzuki working as a ceramist in Zengoro Eiraku's studio. He graduated from Kyoto Municipal Second Technical School in 1943 and after the World War, became one of the central figures of the Sodeisha, an avant-garde group of ceramic artists, who presented their work as fine art rather than craft. Consequently, most of Suzuki Osma's pottery works are non-functional, focusing on the expression emanating from ceramics rather than the functionality of the object. He has always pushed new boundaries with his unique style in which he captures the essence of various forms of nature, such as horses, birds, clouds and mountains, and expresses these images in simple forms with a keen sense of modelling. From the 1960s, two main techniques were used: yakijime with red glaze and blue and white porcelain from 1971 onwards. Suzuki Osama received great recognition for his work, receiving numerous awards and also being appointed professor of ceramics at Osaka University of Arts and later Kyoto City University of Arts. In his final years, he received a number of awards in recognition of his lifelong achievements as an artist and innovator, including being named a Person of Cultural Merit in Kyoto in 1993 and a highly acclaimed, huge retrospective in 1999. He would pass away a few years later in 2001. Suzuki's work can be found in museum and gallery collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto.

 Untitled, 1980, Shibunkaki Gallery