Full Description
Ceramics and Modernity in Japan offers a set of critical perspectives on the creation, patronage, circulation, and preservation of ceramics during Japan's most dramatic period of modernization, the 1860s to 1960s.
As in other parts of the world, ceramics in modern Japan developed along the three ontological trajectories of art, craft, and design. Yet, it is widely believed that no other modern nation was engaged with ceramics as much as Japan—a "potter's paradise"—in terms of creation, exhibition, and discourse. This book explores how Japanese ceramics came to achieve such a status and why they were such significant forms of cultural production. Its medium-specific focus encourages examination of issues regarding materials and practices unique to ceramics, including their distinct role throughout Japanese cultural history. Going beyond descriptive historical treatments of ceramics as the products of individuals or particular styles, the closely intertwined chapters also probe the relationship between ceramics and modernity, including the ways in which ceramics in Japan were related to their counterparts in Asia and Europe.
Featuring contributions by leading international specialists, this book will be useful to students and scholars of art history, design, and Japanese studies.
Contents
1 A potter's paradise: The realm of ceramics in modern Japan. PART I. 2 Tradition, modernity, and national identity: Celadon production at the Makuzu ceramic workshop 1870-1916. 3 More than "Western": Porcelain for the Meiji Emperor's table. PART II. 4 Modernizing ceramic form and decoration: Kyoto potters and the Teiten. 5 Unifying science and art: The Kyoto City Ceramic Research Institute (1896-1920) and ceramic art education during the Taisho era. PART III. 6 The spark that ignited the flame: Hamada Shōji, Paterson's Gallery, and the birth of English studio pottery. 7 Okuda Seiichi and the new language of ceramics in Taisho (1912-1926) Japan. 8 The nude, the empire, and the porcelain vessel idiom of Tomimoto Kenkichi. PART IV. 9 Veiled references: The role of glaze in Japanese avant-garde ceramics. 10 Koyama Fujio's view of modern Japanese ceramics and his role in the creation of "Living National Treasures". EPILOGUE. 11 Found in translation: Ceramics and social change.
