Large rectangular nerikomi (marbleized) vessel with festive colored-clay layered surface Festival
1983
Marbleized stoneware
17 x 14 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.
Published: Matsui Kōsei tōji sakuhinshū (Ceramic Works of Matsui Kōsei). Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1984, p. 50, pl. 47
Although a student of the glazing expert Tamura Kōichi, Matsui Kōsei was captivated by the unglazed marbleized colored-clay techniques and became the seminal figure in its revival. As a priest at the Gessō-ji Temple in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Matsui studied numerous examples of ancient Chinese ceramics, allowing him to perfect his neriage. Far surpassing these historic precedents, Matsui created original abstract and geometric surface patterns, often with a rough-hewn texture, using a variety of methods. His research and intense studies in this difficult process culminated in worldwide recognition for his tradition-steeped vessels, so much so that he was designated a Living National Treasure in 1993.
Irregularly lobed vessel decorated with overlaid bands of colored clay in graduated hues from blue to purple to pink Asa no kaze; Morning Breeze
2012
Glazed stoneware with colored-clay bands
23 1/4 x 14 x 8 1/2 in.
The eldest son of a Kyoto potter, Miyashita Zenji attended Kyoto City University of Arts and studied under Living National Treasures Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963) and Kondō Yūzō (1902-1985). While teaching at the university as a part-time instructor from 1966 to 1985, he interacted with and was inspired by sculpturally focused masters Yagi Kazuo (1918-1979), Suzuki Osamu (1926-2001), and Kiyomizu Kyūbey VII (1922-2006). Miyashita was affiliated with Seitōkai and the Nitten group, exhibiting in their annual competitions, which he won 18 times. Using his signature saidei (colored-clay overlay) technique, Miyashita applied extremely thin layers of delicately gradated colored clay in irregular bands to cover the surface of each sculptural vessel or form, transforming the surfaces into evocative landscapes. Each work features a poetic title that offers insight into the artist’s source of inspiration.
Spherical pleated neriage vase with layers of grey, white, and blue-colored clays
2010
Marbleized stoneware with transparent matte glaze
12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.
A native of Hokkaidō, Japan’s northernmost island, Ogata Kamio was a self-taught ceramist who operated outside of a traditional ceramic center. This allowed him to bring an undeniably original and playful approach to his vessels. Ogata created his ceramics by layering hundreds of paper-thin strata of gradated hand-colored clay. Next, he threw the layered clay on a wheel to create striated linear patterns. To heighten the optical effects, he then carved and pleated the surface, often on a diagonal. This resulted in the appearance of rippling, continuous movement, as though a river flows beneath the surface of each work. His mastery eventually won him the acclaim of Japan’s most prestigious ceramic institutions.
Craquelure celadon-glazed three-lobed leaf-shaped neriage sculpted vessel design
2023
Glazed marbleized stoneware
10 5/8 x 13 x 12 1/4 in.
The eldest son of celebrated Shino-ware ceramist Wakao Toshisada (b. 1933) (Important Intangible Cultural Property of Gifu Prefecture), Wakao Kei has instead made a careful study of Chinese Song white Ding and celadon wares. He experiments with these traditional glazing techniques by applying them to clay bodies that depart from traditional white porcelain. In recent years, he has created works that feature craquelure celadon glaze pooling on top of a black and white marbleized stoneware shaped to resemble rippling leaves or petals. His ceramics can be found in the permanent collections of museums throughout Japan.
Two fierce dragons play in swirling black clouds
Signed: Shoō hitsui Takuryōsai hitsu
Sealed: Taku; Ryūsetsu no in
ca. 1860
Ink and very slight color on paper
Hanging scroll Exclusive of mount: 25 1/4 x 50 1/4 in.
Inclusive of mount: 31 3/4 x 83 1/4 in.
According to East Asian tradition, the Dragon, sovereign symbol of the Far East, embodies mystery, ferocity and power and is nearly omnipresent in Japanese art as the senior sign of the twelve zodiac animals. It is also the embodiment of the yin principles (water, wind, and darkness). The Dragon and Tiger are traditionally said to represent two of the cardinal directions, namely east and west respectively. In this painting, the swirling clouds, manifest wind, and the darkness of the dragon’s celestial domain underscore the active serpentine bodies of the two creatures. The composition is inspired by and based on the work of Chen Rong 陳容 , a Southern Song painter celebrated for his paintings of the dragon. For a very similar composition by Chen Rung, please see: https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/449583
YANAGIDA RYŪSETSU or TAKURYŌSAI as he is better known, was a student of Kano Shosen-in Tadanobu (1823-79), who was an artist active in Edo as the 10th head of the Kobikicho Kano school and teacher of many celebrated painters including Kano Hōgai and Hashimoto Gahō. TAKURYŌSAI was an artist attached to the Satsuma clan until the Meiji Restoration.
The Chinese warrior, Saien Chōsei (Zang Qing) with a pole by a waterfall looks out from a cliff. His robe and tatoo are patterned with monkeys
Saien Chōsei (Zang Qing)
Series: 108 Heroes of the Popular Suikoden All Told; Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
ca. 1830
Publisher: Kagaya Kichibei
Format: Ōban tate-e
Subj. Ill.: Inge Klompmakers, Of Brigands and Bravery: Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of the Suikoden (Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 1998) pl.12
J. Suzuki, Exhibition of Suikoden by Kuniyoshi (Tokyo: Riccar Museum 1979) pl.68
Moon and Smoke: Enchū no tsuki
Series: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon; Tsuki hyakushi
Signed: Yoshitoshi
Sealed: Yoshitoshi no in
1886, second month
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon
Engraver: Yamamoto
Subj. Ill: Schwartz, Gary, The Age of YOSHITOSHI (Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1990), pl. 42, pp. 37, and also frontispiece
Stevenson, John, and Yee, Min, Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (San Francisco Graphic Society, 1992), pl. 22
Ing, Eric van den, and Schaap, Robert, Beauty & Violence Japanese prints by Yoshitoshi 1839 – 1892 (Havilland Press,1992), pl. 54.21, pp. 132
Segi, Shinichi, Yoshitoshi; The Splended Decadent (Kodansha International LTD), 1985, pl. 3, pp. 58
Faceted standing rectangular sculpture with tapering, rounded edges decorated with sometsuke (cobalt-blue) bands; titled, Wind That Carries Away Misfortune
1989
Glazed porcelain
15 3/8 x 10 5/8 x 5 in.
Miyanaga Tōzan comes from a 100-year-old line of potters based in Kyoto. He first studied in the sculpture department at the Kyoto City University of Arts before coming to New York to study at the Art Students League. Upon his return in the early 1960s, he began to create large, powerful sculptures. He soon joined and became a major figure within the avant-garde Sōdeisha group, which focused on non-functional clay art. Over the intervening decades, he has explored new ways of expressing the timeless beauty of seihakuji (bluish-white) and sometsuke glazed porcelain. Miyanaga has long been considered a ceramic virtuoso.
(1886–1963)
Low hexagonal covered sometsuke (cobalt blue) porcelain box with decoration of a rain shower on the Yamato River and striped patterning along sides
1961
Glazed porcelain
1 1/2 x 6 3/8 in.
Exhibited: Tomimoto Kenkichi sakutō gojūnen kinenten (Tomimoto Kenkichi: Exhibition Commemorating the 50th anniversary of his ceramic making), Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo, 1961
Published: Tomimoto Kenkichi sakutō gojūnen kinenten (Tomimoto Kenkichi: Exhibition Commemorating the 50th anniversary of his ceramic making), Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo, 1961, p. 3. Note: This work is published as No. 1 in the exhibition catalogue
Tall standing triangular sculpture with sloped, jagged sides, decorated with poured and dripping sometsuke (cobalt blue) and seihakuji (bluish-white) celadon glazes
2018
Sometsuke (cobalt blue) underglaze with seihakuji (bluish-white) celadon glazes on porcelain
30 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 12 1/4 in.
“Vibrantly colored layered clays are used to such an extent…that the conventional, narrow view of neriage has been shattered” said Hasebe Mitsuhiko former curator of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1990 when speaking of the layered clay works of modern-day Japanese ceramic artists. Their use of the painstaking technique of cutting, forming, and shaping layers of colored clay to form their visually mesmerizing ceramics has often been likened to creating three-dimensional mind games. This ancient technique, known as neriage or nerikomi originated in 8th century China, spread to Korea in the 12th century then to England in the 18th century before coming to its pinnacle in modern-day Japan.
This spring, we celebrate the extraordinary achievements of three past masters who revitalized this ancient technique and creatively expanded the seemingly simple idea of building clay upon clay: Matsui Kōsei, Miyashita Zenji, and Ogata Kamio. Their artistry was impossible to achieve without their equally astonishing technical skills. Developed steadily over time, with patience and experimentation, their deft manipulation of clay enabled them each in their own ways to achieve dazzling color contrasts, unexpected surface effects, and gradations of textures and colors that complemented their vessels’ forms. Many of their artworks have been acquired directly from the estates of the artists, with the blessings of their families, and are obviously fresh to the market.
In addition, work by seven other Japanese ceramic artists who were contemporaries of, or successors, to their innovative legacies will be displayed in Layered Clay: Harada Shūroku, Living National Treasure Itō Sekisui V, Kawase Shinobu, Kakurezaki Ryūichi, Saeki Moriyoshi, Takiguchi Kazuo, and Wakao Kei.
Art of the People: Exploring the Mingei Film Archive
Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 5pm EDT
Perhaps one of the best-known aspects of Japanese ceramics in the West remains the Mingei folk art movement and its leading proponents, Hamada Shōji and Bernard Leach. Because of their advocacy and publicly facing roles, aided greatly by the medium of film, the timeless qualities of Mingei have figured prominently in the perception of Japanese art in the West throughout the twentieth century. For this unique ZOOM Gallery Talk, filmmaker Marty Gross shares with us his extraordinary mission to restore, record, preserve, and archive the films of and about Mingei from the early twentieth century in his project, The Mingei Film Archive. He will share with us rare footage of prewar Japan and of pottery production in centers such as Tamba and Mashiko. As a potter himself, Marty Gross shares with us how the Mingei Film Archive developed and how his personal journey merged his two great artistic interests to create this remarkable and irreplaceable resource for ceramics and for Japanese art lovers.
Panelist: Marty Gross, filmmaker and founder of The Mingei Film Archive, based in Toronto, Canada
Moderated by Joan Mirviss
A recording of this talk will be available on our site shortly.
RECENTLY CLOSED EXHIBITION: ASIA WEEK NEW YORK 2024
Eternal Partnership: Japanese Ceramics in Blue & White
March 14 – April 19, 2024
The most visually striking color combination for centuries, blue and white has been paired effectively in all types of Japanese art, but most prominently and successfully in its ceramics. For Asia Week New York 2024, we present the enduring legacy of this timeless aesthetic, and its dynamic expressions in Japanese contemporary clay, through the lens of the esteemed Kyoto-based Kondō family. Across multiple generations, their mastery of sometsuke (cobalt blue-and-white porcelain) culminates in the work of our celebrated gallery artist, Kondō Takahiro, who broke free of his forefathers’ traditions with his patented gintekisai “silver mist” overglaze on dramatic sculptural work.
Eternal Partnership: Japanese Ceramics in Blue & White includes masterful work by twenty additional Japanese ceramic artists applying blue and/or white across a wide range of innovative forms and styles.
This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Porcelains in the Mist: The Kondō Family of Ceramicists at the Brooklyn Museum. The artist Kondō Takahiro will be present for in-person events hosted by Joan B Mirviss LTD during Asia Week New York.
To learn more and view our online catalog, click here.
