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Born in Hawai’i to Japanese/Okinawan immigrant parents, multimedia artist Toshiko Takaezu created sculptural ceramics, textiles, and paintings that combine mid-century American abstraction with the traditions of East Asia. She earned recognition in her lifetime as a technically masterful and innovative ceramicist, as well as an artist-educator. Yet, her weaving was equally important to her own work. “It’s just another art medium, the blending of materials and color.” She noted, “I weave to relax.” Takaezu’s deeply integrated approach to art and life can be seen in her related explorations of color and gestural style in clay, fiber, and paint. Her cross-cultural and multidisciplinary practice make her one of the most compelling, though under recognized, American abstract artists of the late 20th century.
In shades of deep blue and purple with a yellow-green band along one edge and a deep pile surface, Ao-Ao was made in the Scandinavian technique known as rya rug weaving. Takaezu learned this technique when studying with Marianne Strengell at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in the early 1950s. For this textile, Takaezu hand wove two pieces approximately 45” wide and 140” long, then sewed them together in an abutting seam with green thread that is visible on the reverse. On the front surface, thick pile wefts are the only visible elements of the weave structure. On the reverse, 1 ½” bands of densely packed wefts in similar blues and yellows hold a single course of pile weft in place. She varied the color and texture of the thick pile wefts by adding lustrous silk and rayon threads to the contrasting wool threads as she wove. Takaezu also cut the pile loops in some areas adding variation across its surface. Thin undyed linen warps are visible on the back, where groups of approximately 10 have been braided and sewn down across the narrow edges of the work. Takaezu found inspiration in nature, often drawing upon the landscapes of her native Hawai’i. She often gave her weavings Hawaiian titles. Ao translates into light, or growing light or dawn; and Ao-Ao means the boundary or side of something or a way of life.
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Ao-Ao
Toshiko Takaezu (American, 1922–2011)
American
1970
Medium/Technique
Wool, nylon, silk, and rayon plain weave with knotted pile
Dimensions
Overall: 228.6 × 355.6 cm (90 × 140 in.)
Credit Line
Partial gift of The Takaezu Studio and Museum purchase with the John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund and funds donated by Suzanne Werber Dworsky
Accession Number2023.342
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsTextiles
Born in Hawai’i to Japanese/Okinawan immigrant parents, multimedia artist Toshiko Takaezu created sculptural ceramics, textiles, and paintings that combine mid-century American abstraction with the traditions of East Asia. She earned recognition in her lifetime as a technically masterful and innovative ceramicist, as well as an artist-educator. Yet, her weaving was equally important to her own work. “It’s just another art medium, the blending of materials and color.” She noted, “I weave to relax.” Takaezu’s deeply integrated approach to art and life can be seen in her related explorations of color and gestural style in clay, fiber, and paint. Her cross-cultural and multidisciplinary practice make her one of the most compelling, though under recognized, American abstract artists of the late 20th century.
In shades of deep blue and purple with a yellow-green band along one edge and a deep pile surface, Ao-Ao was made in the Scandinavian technique known as rya rug weaving. Takaezu learned this technique when studying with Marianne Strengell at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in the early 1950s. For this textile, Takaezu hand wove two pieces approximately 45” wide and 140” long, then sewed them together in an abutting seam with green thread that is visible on the reverse. On the front surface, thick pile wefts are the only visible elements of the weave structure. On the reverse, 1 ½” bands of densely packed wefts in similar blues and yellows hold a single course of pile weft in place. She varied the color and texture of the thick pile wefts by adding lustrous silk and rayon threads to the contrasting wool threads as she wove. Takaezu also cut the pile loops in some areas adding variation across its surface. Thin undyed linen warps are visible on the back, where groups of approximately 10 have been braided and sewn down across the narrow edges of the work. Takaezu found inspiration in nature, often drawing upon the landscapes of her native Hawai’i. She often gave her weavings Hawaiian titles. Ao translates into light, or growing light or dawn; and Ao-Ao means the boundary or side of something or a way of life.
DescriptionTwo loom widths (each 45" wide) joined at an abutting seam whip-stitched with heavy weight green thread, which is visible on the back. Each section is woven with thin beige nylon warp threads braided at the ends. The rows of cut and uncut loops of knotted wefts in a range of plies and thicknesses in wool, linen, silk, and other fibers dyed a range of blues, yellow-green, brown, and gray are approximately 1 1/2" long. These knotted pile wefts dominate the front, disguising the 10-12 plain weave rows between each knotted pile weft in a range of yellow-orange, blues, purples, and red, which can be seen on the back.
Provenance2011, upon the artist’s death, to the Toshiko Takaezu Trust, Honolulu, HI; 2011, sold by the Toshiko Takaezu Trust to Donald Fletcher on behalf of The Takaezu Studio, Flemington, NJ; 2023, sold by The Takaezu Studio to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 21, 2023)