Full Moon

Copied Toshiko Takaezu, Full Moon, 1978, stoneware and glaze, 27 3⁄4 x 29 1⁄2 in. (70.5 x 74.9 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase and gift of the James Renwick Alliance, 1989.36.2

Artwork Details

Title
Full Moon
Artist
Date
1978
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
27 3⁄4 x 29 1⁄2 in. (70.5 x 74.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase and gift of the James Renwick Alliance
Mediums
Mediums Description
stoneware and glaze
Classifications
Subjects
  • Allegory — place — extraterrestrial
  • Abstract
Object Number
1989.36.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1989.36.2

Artwork Description

One of Toshiko Takaezu's “closed forms,” the unseen interior cavity of this ceramic sculpture suggests the protected space of an egg. To create these forms, Takaezu threw a pot at her wheel, then coiled and hand built the clay into a nearly closed spheroid. She often placed pieces of paper and clay inside before firing that became rattling ceramic beads in the kiln.


Many species of birds, like ducks, communicate with each other before they hatch. They peep and click from inside their eggs to synchronize their emergence, preparing the family to leave the nest together. Like chattering eggs in a nest, Takaezu’s closed forms conjure new imaginings about the tenderness of home.


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