Koie Ryôji

1938 Born in Tokoname, Japan.
1962 Worked at Tokoname Ceramic Institute (until 1966)
Began working at the Tokoname Ceramics Research Institute
1966 Became independent
1971 Built a kiln in India
1989 Became Assistant Professor at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts
1992 Became Professor at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts
Workshop and a lecture at the University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, Michigan
1994 Workshop and a lecture at Scripps University in Claremont, California
Founded his new studio in Ena-gun in Gifu Prefecture.
1998 Workshop at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Awards:
1971 International Honorary Grand Prix at the 3rd Vallauris Exhibition, France
1992 Awarded The Japan Ceramic Society Prize
2001 Received The Third Oribe Award
2005 Received The Chunichi Cultural Prize

Solo exhibitions:
1984 Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong
1991 Galerie Besson, London
1992 Takashimaya Store Gallery, Nihonbashi, Tokyo
Keio Art Gallery, Tokyo
Mitsukoshi Gallery, Nihonbashi, Tokyo
1993 Bijutsu Kokei
Gallery Mizunoya
Yamaki Gallery, Osaka
Hashimoto Bijutsu
1994 Ryôji Koie; from the earth, to the earth, Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu
Takashimaya Gallery, New York
1997 Tsutsi Art Space in Seoul, Korea
Yamaki Gallery, Osaka
1998 Ikukko Gallery, Kurashiki, Okayama
Galerie Besson, London
1999 Gallery Kôgen, Nagoya
2005 Made in New Jersey, Yamaki Art Gallery, Osaka
2010 Work from St Ives, Galerie Besson, London

Group exhibitions:
1962 Entry to the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition
1967 Entry to the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition
1970 Avant-garde Ceramics Exhibition, Scripps University, Claremont, California (invitational)
1971 Japan Ceramics Exhibition (also in 1983); awarded the prize.
Contemporary Ceramics, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (toured in U.S.A., Canada and Mexico)
The 30th Faenza Internatinal Ceramics Competition
1973 Bird Artists of the Present Time, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (also in 1977)
1974 The 11th Exhibition of International Art in Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum (invitational)
1975 Contemporary Art: 50 Artists, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (invitational)
1976 Japan Ceramics Exhibition, East Germany (invitational)
1978 Contemporary Crafts, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Japan Today, a traveling exhibition in Canada.
1981 Miniatures en Ceramique, A. I. C Exhibition Museé des Arts Decoratifs, Paris
1982 Possibilities today of earth and fire, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi
Miniatures en Ceramique, A. I. C Exhibition, Museé des Arts Decoratifs in Lausanne (also in Budapest)
1983 Un regard sur l’art japonais d’aujourd’hui, Rath Museum in Geneva (invitational)
1986 Avant-garde Artists of Japan 1910-1970, Pompidou Center, Paris
1987 Crafts in 1960’s, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1988 Suntory Art Grand Prix Exhibition, Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo
1991 Third International Potters’ Festival, Aberystwyth, Wales
1992 Two-person show with Claudi Casanovas, Gallery Koyanagi in Tokyo
1993 Two-person show with Claudi Casanovas, Gallery Caramany, in Girona, Spain
Contemporary Ceramics 1950- 1990, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi
1994 Position 1994 Nagoya Contemporary Art Exhibition, Nagoya City Art Museum, Aichi
Two-person show with Lee Kijoo at KBS Pusan Station Gallery in Pusan, Korea.
1997 Ceramic Hunt Exhibition, Takashimaya Department Store Galleries, Nihonbashi, Tokyo; Kyoto, etc., organized by NHK
2001 Leaders of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics: Exploring Techniques and Forms for the New Century, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Ibaraki
2002 Legacy of Modern Ceramic Art, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu
2003 The Art of Earth - Clay Works of the New Century, The National Museum of Art, Osaka
Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan, The Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo
2005 Exhibited and published, Fascination of Ceramics, Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Pottery from the Gisela Freudenberg Collection, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, Germany
Exhibited and published, Contemporary Clay: Japanese ceramics for the new century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2006 The Quintessence of Modern Japanese Ceramics, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Ibaraki
The Musée Tomo, Contemporary Ceramics for the Tea Ceremony, Free Creativity and Atypical Usage, Musée Tomo, Tokyo
Tôji: Avant-Garde et Tradition de la Cèramique Japonaise, Musèe national de cèramique Sèvres, France
2009 Breaking from Tradition Japanese Ceramics Today, Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen in
conjunction with Joan B. Mirviss, LTD., New York
Summer Exhibition, Galerie Besson, London
Selected Public Collections:

Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
Idemitsu Museum
Kyung Sung University Museum, Pusan, Korea
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu
Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Tokoname City Hall, Aichi
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art

Selected References:

Joe Earle, Contemporary Clay: Japanese ceramics for the new century (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2005) pp. 100-101

Gendai Nihon no tôgei Vol.14: tsuchi to hi no kisô (Tokyo: Kôdansha, 1984): 152-153.

Gendai no Nihon tôgei: Tôkai (Tokyo: Tankôsha, 1989)

Modern Japanese Ceramics in American Collections (New York: Japan Society, 1993): 58, 64-65.

Toh; Koie Ryôji, vol. 86 (Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin 1993)1

Rupert Faulkner. Japanese Studio Crafts: Tradition and the Avant-Garde (London: Laurence King, 1994): 75-76.

"Koie Ryoji: Earth <-> Human" vo. 1 (Gifu: Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu)

Koie Ryôji; Prior to Creation.” In Toward a 21st Century Renaissance in Ceramics, vol. 2 (Kyoto: Dohôsha, 1997): 69- 95.

Exhibition Catalogue: Leaders of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics: Exploring Techniques and Forms for the New Century (Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, 2001): 44-47.

Matsuyama, Tetsuo. “Shinjitsu ichiro no muteppô [Adventurous seeking the only truth].” Honoho Geijutsu no. 70 (Tokyo: Abe shuppan, 2002): 12-18.

“Naze tôgeika wa Oribe ni hikitsukerarerunoka? [Why ceramic artists are attracted by Oribe style?]” Tôjirô 30 (Tokyo: Futabasha, 2002): 31-34.

Christine Shimizu, Tôji: Avant-Garde et Tradition de la Cèramique Japonaise, Editions de la réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 2006

Exhibition Catalogue: Work from St Ives (Galerie Besson, London, 2010)

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