Sculptural Cream and Silver Ceramic Vase by Hitomi Masatsugu 人見政次

Japan, second half of the 20th century.

Sculptural ceramic vase by Hitomi Masatsugu 人見政次, constructed as an openwork abstract form, straddling the line between vase and sculpture. The work consists of two large vertical semi-circles joined by silver elements, which act simultaneously as articulation, structure, and visual rhythm.

The piece features different treatments on its sides. One side is entirely rendered in a cream-white tone, with a lightly cracked and patinated surface. The two interior panels visible in the openings are silver-colored, as are the connecting parts. On the other side, a light semi-circle responds to a silver semi-circle, while the other semi-circle remains cream. This more complex alternation creates an additional rhythm and alters the perception of the object depending on the viewing angle.

The central void organizes the composition, lightens the mass, and transforms the vase into a sign. The object retains the Japanese name kabin 花瓶, or vase, but its potential use is secondary to its plastic force. It belongs to the vocabulary of post-war Japanese sculptural ceramics, where form, material, and space become the main subjects of the work.

Hitomi Masatsugu is part of the history of Sōdeisha 走泥社, an avant-garde movement founded in Kyoto in 1948 by Yagi Kazuo, Suzuki Osamu, Yamada Hikaru, Matsui Yoshisuke, and Kano Tetsuo. Sōdeisha played a major role in establishing autonomous ceramics, freed from traditional utilitarian function. Artists associated with the group moved clay beyond the sole domain of the vase, bowl, or everyday object, making it a sculptural language in its own right.

His work is documented in the retrospective exhibition Sōdeisha: Rethinking Avant-Garde Ceramics. Several pieces by Hitomi Masatsugu, dated 1968, 1972, and 1973, are listed there, confirming his place among the artists of the second generation of Sōdeisha and his inscription in the history of avant-garde Japanese ceramics.

This work should be viewed in this context. It does not seek to charm through applied decoration, but through precise formal construction: two opposing masses, an active void, an alternation of cream and silver surfaces, a tension between frontality and volume. The vase becomes a constructed form, almost a three-dimensional ideogram, where balance arises from the contrast between weight, opening, and light.

Hitomi Masatsugu is documented as a professor in the applied arts department of Osaka University of Arts. Japanese sources link him to ceramic teaching and Sōdeisha exhibitions, particularly in the 1990s.

This vase is a representative work of this generation of Japanese ceramists for whom clay becomes the material for autonomous plastic thought. Through its balance of cream surface, silver luster, and openwork structure, it retains a strong decorative presence while reflecting a demanding artistic approach.

Dimensions: height 32.5 cm; width 35 cm; thickness 4.5 cm.