Vessel Explored / Vessel Transformed - Tomimoto Kenkichi and his Enduring Legacy

Our groundbreaking exhibition and its accompanying publication, Vessel Explored / Vessel Transformed: Tomimoto Kenkichi and his Enduring Legacy, the first of its type outside Japan, opens during Asia Week New York at Joan B Mirviss LTD. Presented in conjunction with  Japan’s leading modern ceramic dealer, SHIBUYA KURODATOEN CO., LTD., the exhibition focuses on the remarkable artist and teacher, Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963).   While, a relative unknown in the west, Tomimoto is revered as the father of this field.  He was the most significant figure in the world of twentieth-century Japanese ceramics and his impact continues through his gifted and inspired former pupils and their talented students, many of whom are now professors of ceramics. Together they have transformed and surpassed the classical standards for functional ceramic excellence—devotion to the ancient Chinese traditions in tandem with an allegiance to the late 16th-century Momoyama tea wares–– and brought to their oeuvres a new, contemporary, and highly influential sensibility. Without Tomimoto and his legacy of pupils, Japan would not be in the preeminent position as champion of contemporary clay that it is today.

 As a technical innovator and genius with surface decoration, Tomimoto Kenkichi was the founder of the ceramics department at Kyoto City University of Arts, which profoundly changed the direction for the next generation of clay artists. Tomimoto believed  that patterns  should never  be reused and  took inspiration from nature in order to keep his work fresh and new often instructing his students:

“For pattern, look to nature and its beauty–– form, line, and color. Study and understand how they are structured.”

Not born into a traditional pottery family but educated in things western, having traveled in the  West and befriended the major  English ceramic artist, Bernard Leach, Tomimoto had a much broader view of Japanese ceramics than many of his contemporaries. As a teacher, he expounded on the importance of individuality, originality, and the confluence of forms and patterns. Throughout his life, he remained steadfast in his own beliefs and attempted to instill these ethical values in his pupils.

Vessel Explored / Vessel Transformed: Tomimoto Kenkichi and his Enduring Legacy will showcase works by the teacher along with ceramics by his former pupils, artists and teachers in their own right,  and their pupils. Noteworthy among this illustrious group are  Kamoda Shōji, Kondō Yūzō, Kuriki Tatsusuke,  Matsuda Yuriko, Tamura Kōichi, Tsuboi Asuka, Wada Morihiro and Yanagihara Mutsuo. From the third generation are Hayashi Kaku, Koike Shōko, Kondō Takahiro, Maeda Masahiro, Matsui Kōsei, Ogawa Machiko, and Tashima Etsuko.  Masterworks by many of the greatest stars of Japanese modern and contemporary ceramics will be on view, some created specifically for this important exhibition. 

 Additionally, to give further historical context to the show, the exhibition will include vessels by several of Tomimoto’s renown contemporaries in the field: Hamada Shōji, Kawai Kanjirō, Kitaōji Rosanjin, Kiyomizu Rokubey VII, and Yagi Kazuo, all of who took independent paths.

In our accompanying scholarly publication, we are honored to include scholarly essays by noted experts: Kida Takuya, Professor at Musashino Art University and author of numerous articles on this topic, Meghen M. Jones, Assistant Professor of Art History at Alfred University who wrote her dissertation on Tomimoto; and emerging scholar Trevor Menders. Their essays are complemented by recollections from several of Tomimoto’s former pupils and pioneers in their own right.