Born in 1961, Tokuda Yasokichi IV succeeded her father Tokuda Yasokichi III after his death in 2009. As a female leader of a traditional potter’s family, she is recognized both domestically and internationally. Tokuda inherited the techniques and methods of the Tokuda family style of Kutani porcelain production, especially saiyu glazing where arrangements and gradations of color play a central role in ornamentation, rather than the pictorial designs of birds, flowers and figures seen in conventional Kutani-ware. Her personal sensibility as a female artist gives her a novel perspective on tradition, reflected in her diverse choices of colors and unique interpretations of form.
Selected Exhibitions
2013–2018 Asia Week, New York, US
2017 The 64th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition, Japan
2016 The 72nd Contemporary Art Exhibition, Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Ishikawa, Japan The Power of Colors , Musée Tomo, Tokyo, Japan
2015 SOFA Chicago, Illinois, USTradition Reborn:Contemporary Japanese Ceramics , Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, US 360th Anniversary Kutaniyaki Exhibition , Kutaniyaki Art Museum, Ishikawa, Japan
2014 Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, Embassy of Japan, Washington D.C., US
2013 Heritage: Japanese Works of Art by Contemporary Artis
Selected Public Collections
British Museum | London
Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art | Kanazawa, Japan
Portland Art Museum | Oregon
Indianapolis Museum of Art | Indiana, US
Art Complex Museum | Massachusetts, US
Auckland Museum | New Zealand
Kyushu Ceramic Museum | Arita, Japan
National Museum of Modern Art | Tokyo
Museum of Ceramic Art | Hyogo, Japan