天空II Tenkū II (Heaven II)

Sueharu Fukami, artist

born 1947

天空II Tenkū II (Heaven II), 1980–1992

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: seihakuji porcelain; wood

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 7.7 x 112 x 24.2 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 3 1/16 x 44 1/8 x 9 1/2 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Fund

Accession number: 1992.0072

Not on display

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Label texts

Forms of Thought

Sueharu’s elegant ceramic sculptures combine his expertise in creating the traditional jewel-like, bluish-green porcelain, known in Japan as seihakuji (celadon ware), and his long-term experimentation with new casting and glazing techniques. For Sueharu, the sharp yet gently curved edges of Tenkū II evoke the horizon line where the sky meets the earth. He observes:I first became interested in the horizon when I was in my early thirties. I was climbing Daiyozaki mountain pass in Mie Prefecture and the view just made my heart tremble. I was deeply moved and knew it was the feeling I wanted to capture in my work, a feeling of majestic awe.

Forms of Thought

Sueharu’s elegant ceramic sculptures combine his expertise in creating the traditional jewel-like, bluish-green porcelain known in Japan as seihakuji (celadon ware) with his long-term experimentation with new casting and glazing techniques. For Sueharu, the sharp yet gently curved edges of Tenku¯ II evoke the horizon line where the sky meets the earth. He observes: "I first became interested in the horizon when I was in my early thirties. I was climbing Daiyozaki mountain pass in Mie Prefecture and the view just made my heart tremble. I was deeply moved and knew it was the feeling I wanted to capture in my work, a feeling of majestic awe."

Exhibition Label:
"Forms of Thought," Mar-2014, Kris Ercums
Sueharu’s elegant ceramic sculptures combine his expertise in creating the traditional jewel-like, bluish-green porcelain known in Japan as seihakuji (celadon ware) with his long-term experimentation with new casting and glazing techniques. For Sueharu, the sharp yet gently curved edges of Tenku¯ II evoke the horizon line where the sky meets the earth. He observes:
I first became interested in the horizon when I was in my early thirties. I was climbing Daiyozaki mountain pass in Mie Prefecture and the view just made my heart tremble. I was deeply moved and knew it was the feeling I wanted to capture in my work, a feeling of majestic awe.

Exhibition Label:
"Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art," Mar-2008, Kris Ercums
I first became interested in the horizon when I was in my early thirties. I was climbing Daiyozaki mountain pass in Mie Prefecture and the view just made my heart tremble.
I was deeply moved and knew it was the feeling I wanted to capture in my work, a feeling of majestic awe.
~ Fukami Sueharu

Exhibition Label:
“Transformations,” Feb-2006, Mary Dusenbury and Alison Miller
Fukami Sueharu’s elegant sculptures are based on his profound knowledge of the production of the jewel-like bluish green porcelain known, in Japan, as seihakuji (celadon ware) and the direct result of his long-term experimentation with new casting and glazing techniques. Fukami has said that the razor-sharp and gently curved edges of Sky II evoke, for him, the horizon line where sky meets sea or earth.

Archive Label:
Fukami Sueharu was born in Kyoto to a family of potters. Trained in Kyoto, he studied in Italy in 1981 and has travelled extensively in Europe and North America. His work was accepted into the prestigious Nitten exhibition when he was only twenty and he has received numerous awards since that time, including the grand prize at the International Ceramic Art competition in Faenza, Italy in both 1985 and 1986.
Early in his career, Fukami began to explore pure sculptural form and by the later 1970s he had almost abandoned functional work altogether. His compact linear and columnar forms are characterized by a clear, greenish white glaze (seihakuji), a color that recalls the translucent green of jade.