Collection Online as of December 6, 2022

Okabe Mineo 岡部嶺男

(Japanese, 1919–1990)

Japan, Shōwa period

(1926-89)

Stoneware with celadon glaze

Overall: 27.8 x 26.2 x 27.1 cm (10 15/16 x 10 5/16 x 10 11/16 in.)

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.192

Location

003 Special Exhibition Hall

Fun Fact

Throughout his life, Okabe changed his surname three times; born Kanō Mineo, he changed his surname to Katō, after his mother, in 1927 and again to Okabe, after his wife, in 1978.

Description

Okabe Mineo presents his artistic vision in this work though an unexpected combination of materials and their treatment. The vessel features a celadon glaze, a high-level technique developed in China’s Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), on a ceramic body that evokes indigenous ceramic expressions of Japan’s Neolithic period (about 14,000–300 BC), known as the Jōmon, or “cord-marked” era, after designs found on some of its ceramics.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Box inscription: 翠青瓷縄文瓶　嶺男　嶺男（印）

Inscription Translation

Box inscription: Green Celadon Jōmon [style] Vessel; signed: Mineo; sealed: Mineo

Provenance

1968-2013

Private collection, Japan

2013

(Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., New York, NY, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Keithley)

2013-2020

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art

2020-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Kitagawa, Yasunori 北川靖記, ed. Mineo sakuhinshū [嶺男作品集 = Works of Mineo]. Mineo Sakuhinshū Publishing Associates 嶺男作品集刊行会, 1971. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 13

Kenji Kaneko 金子賢治. Okabe Mineo ten: seiji o kiwameru [岡部嶺男展: 青磁を極める = Okabe Mineo: a retrospective]. [Japan]: NHK Chubu Burenzu, 2007. cat. no. 123

Exhibition history

Okabe Mineo ten: seiji o kiwameru [岡部嶺男展: 青磁を極める = Okabe Mineo: a retrospective]. National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan (March 6-May 20, 2007); Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan (June 27-July 10, 2007); Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan (July 14- September 30, 2007); Hagi Uragami Museum, Hagi, Japan; Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, Japan; and Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Kasama, Japan.

Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Jōmon Vessel