Setsuko Biography

Working across many mediums—including bronze, ceramics, and gouache—Setsuko Klossowska de Rola renders tranquil subjects with rich, tactile surfaces. Her work connects natural and constructed elements, representing the symbiosis of life and death, growth and decay. Her still lifes, interiors, and landscapes convey the joy of life embodied by natural forms, crafted objects, and intimate spaces.

Setsuko was born in 1942 in Tokyo. She attended the Jesuit-run Sophia University in Tokyo, learning about both Eastern and Western cultures, from Japanese calligraphy and Noh theater to European literature and ballet. In 1962, she relocated to Rome and began to paint, working principally in gouache and watercolor, and synthesizing Eastern aesthetic traditions with Western modernism. Setsuko's elegant still lifes and domestic interiors convey her precise observation of everyday objects and living things, including flower arrangements, plants, and resting cats.

In 1977 Setsuko moved to the eighteenth-century Grand Chalet in Rossinière, Switzerland; she continues to live and work there and in Paris. In 1979, she held her first solo exhibition at Galleria Il Gabbiano, Rome, later showing at Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York and the Lefevre Gallery in London. In 2005, Setsuko was designated unesco's Artist for Peace for her ongoing promotion of education, intercultural dialogue, and the preservation of global heritage.

Setsuko's interest in diverse surfaces and the malleability and expressiveness of clay led her to ceramics. Made of terra-cotta and glazed in white enamel, her highly textured sculptures of trees and vines emphasize their rooted solidity and the vitality of their abundant growth. Reminiscent of Japanese ceramics dating back to Jōmon earthenware (c. 10,500–300 bce), they also draw inspiration from European aesthetic traditions. Setsuko works in Astier de Villatte's workshop in Paris, where she produces her own artwork and collaborates with the renowned studio on ceramic collections.

In 2019, Setsuko presented ceramics and paintings at her first exhibition with Gagosian, Into the Trees, in Paris. This was followed in 2021 by Regards de Setsuko at Musée national du château de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, France, which established a dialogue between the artist's work and the historical ceramics collected by Empress Josephine. Into the Trees II, an exhibition at Gagosian, Rome, followed in 2022, featuring ceramic, bronze, and wood sculptures juxtaposed with paintings from throughout her career.

Text courtesy Gagosian.