Remembrance

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Toshiko Takaezu, American, 1922–2011

Remembrance, 2000

Cast bronze
Princeton University
PP638
Hear the Curator

The bell of remembrance, cast in 2000, was erected in Princeton University’s Memorial Garden in 2003, along with fourteen* metal stars set in the ground in memory of fourteen* Princeton alumni who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Sound has always been a hidden characteristic of Toshiko Takaezu's art, whether in bronze or clay. Best known as a potter who taught at Princeton for twenty-five years, Takaezu was at the forefront of a movement that turned ceramics from a craft into an art form. She transformed ordinary clay vessels, such as bowls and pots, by closing the vessels’ forms. This took away their practical function and turned them into pure sculpture—and yet Takaezu often left a clay rattle inside the closed forms, causing each pot to ring like a bell. This bell was first molded as a clay model with high-relief ribs of dripped glazes to create a richly textured surface.

*This transcript has been corrected to reflect that fourteen Princeton graduates died during the attacks of September 11, 2001, based on information received by the University in 2016.

Hear the University Coordinating Architect

In the aftermath of 9/11, the University and the families of the fourteen* alumni lost immediately began plans for a memorial to the victims. There was much discussion about the type of memorial and where it should be sited. But the consensus was that, whatever its form, the memorial must embody an affirmation of life—and the concept of a garden emerged. There was also agreement that the fourteen* individuals’ names should appear in the garden.

But where should the garden be located? University architects, grounds personnel, and consulting landscape architects formed a team that studied possible sites; they envisioned a place that was prominent and easy to find, but also somewhat sheltered, to allow for quiet contemplation. The site chosen is just a few steps east of Nassau Hall and is embraced on three sides by the historic brownstone facades of East Pyne and Chancellor Green.

A gravel path leads to the garden entrance, through an opening in the boxwood hedge. There stands Toshiko Takaezu’s gift, a great bronze bell hanging low to the ground. It was selected by University President Shirley Tilghman for inclusion in the garden.

To include the alumni names, the team borrowed from a past Princeton tradition of memorializing alumni war dead by engraving the person’s name onto a bronze star. For the 9/11 garden, fourteen* stars were fabricated and inset into brownstone panels. The panels were laid in a sunburst pattern covering the garden’s floor. Surrounding this central space are stone benches and flowering beds of oakleaf hydrangea, fothergilla, nandina, and hostas. Spreading overhead are two atlas cedar trees.

The bronze stars together form a circle, the universal symbol of life and continuity. Each September 11, during memorial services, the bell is struck fourteen* times.

*This transcript has been corrected to reflect that fourteen Princeton graduates died during the attacks of September 11, 2001, based on information received by the University in 2016. 

Read More (PP638)

The Art of Toshiko Takaezu (from PUAM website)

The closed nature of Toshiko Takaezu’s ceramics is one of their most special attributes. Once closed, the emptiness is sealed within while the clay form gains presence and becomes a work of art. In this seemingly simple act, Takaezu was at the vanguard of an artistic revolution that elevated ceramics from a craft to an art. The closed ceramic forms also resonate with sound that lingers in memory. If you lift many of the vessels to shake them, a rattle inserted by the artist before closing the form can be heard from within. This sonic aspect connects Takaezu’s ceramics with her casting of bronze bells, such as Remembrance. The preservation of fingerprints in the glaze of some pieces also serves as visual memory of the artist. These reminders of Takaezu’s presence manifest the theme of remembrance in her work.

Read More, biographical (from PUAM website)

One of eleven children, Takaezu was born in 1922 in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, to immigrant parents from Japan. In 1948 she enrolled at the University of Hawaii, where she studied ceramics under Claude Horan. She continued her studies in 1951 at the Cranbrook Academy of Arts in Michigan, mentored by the influential Finnish ceramist and teacher Maija Grotell. After traveling and studying in Japan she joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1955, and from 1967 to 1992 she taught at Princeton University. Takaezu received Princeton’s Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities in 1992 and an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 1996. In addition to Remembrance, Princeton University is fortunate to have a collection of thirty-three of Takaezu’s ceramic forms in the Museum and three works in the Program of Visual Arts.

Hear the Bell (PP638)