Stay up to date with gallery programming at Joan B Mirviss LTD. Our regular Zoom Gallery Talks bring together Japanese art lovers from all over the world. 

Cultured Magazine writes that the exhibition is "A central form of disruption explored in the exhibition is the artists' dismissal of traditional gender norms, shown either through their unorthodox approach to typically feminine subjects, or their outright pursual of stereotypically masculine subject matter."

"This year marks the 15th anniversary of Asia Week New York which made the gala reception co-hosted by The Asian Art Department of Metropolitan Museum of Art and Asia Week New York even more joyous."

Joan B. Mirviss LTD presenta, primero en la Asia Week New York  y posteriormente en su sala de la misma ciudad,  esta exposición que muestra cerámica de la tradición sometsuke (porcelana azul cobalto y blanca) de diferentes autores japoneses, con especial atención a la familia Kondo.

A visually striking color combination featured in the finest art across Asia for centuries, blue and white can be found effectively paired in all types of Japanese art.

第十五届纽约亚洲艺术周正式开幕 

"A lot has changed in the 15 years since Asia Week New York began," writes Karen K. Ho in ARTnews.

Across multiple generations, the Kondō family's mastery of sometsuke (cobalt blue-and-white porcelain) culminates in the work of celebrated gallery artist, Kondo Takahiro (b 1958).

Curator Joan Cummins describes how each generation of the Kondō family has distinguished their innovation—and what we see today.

From gallery walls to museum halls, Asia Week New York fosters collaboration between galleries and museums

Eternal Partnership places emphasis on Kondō Takahiro, a member of the Kyoto-based family of pioneering potters in the sometsuke technique. 

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Art History is holding a symposium titled, "Japanese Painting Circa 1500: A Time of Upheaval and Innovation" on Friday, April 12th, 2024

Congratulations to esteemed ceramic artist Miyanaga Tōzan III (Rikichi) on winning the Special Culture Prize and Distinguished Services Prize from Kyoto Prefecture (Kyōto-fu bukashō tokubetsu kōrō shō)

"Contemporary work at Joan B. Mirviss creates a conversation with ceramicists and techniques of the past. A sculpture juxtaposing textures and materials within a restricted palette, its geometric planes become a dialogue of both mesmerizing, yet confounding surfaces."

Joan B Mirviss LTD vuelve al Winter Show del Park Avenue Armory, de Nueva York, con esta exposición que muestra la cerámica realizada por las más destacadas ceramistas japonesas, con el título Taking Space, Making Space

From 70 dealers of art and antiques presenting this year, artnet has selected Joan B Mirviss LTD as one of just five booths to highlight in its coverage. 

"The storied dealer Joan B. Mirviss represents many of the artists in 'Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan,' currently at the Art Institute of Chicago. Commissioning pieces for the Winter Show from as many as she could, she built a booth that feels as varied, in texture and color, as any 10 others," writes Will Heinrich in the New York Times.

“This show brings together artists on the cutting edge of invention in terms of materials, glaze, and technique, and we are thrilled to recognize their contributions to the global ceramics field,” said Janice Katz, Roger L. Weston Associate Curator of Japanese Art, the Art Institute of Chicago.

In a new interview, Chicago arts publication NewCity Art speaks to Art Institute of Chicago curator Janice Katz about RADICAL CLAY: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan.

"In recent years, the fair has welcomed an increasing amount of contemporary works, especially those that reference back to historical movements... The Joan B Mirviss gallery’s survey of Japanese women clay artists, displaying the ingenuity of talents from post-war through the present, is a great example of this thinking." 

"Real Chicagoans know winter is the best season for museum-hopping in this city. New exhibitions spring up everywhere, it’s off-season for tourists and best of all, you can kill an afternoon while staying indoors." Hannah Edgar shares her art exhibitions picks for winter 2024 in the Chicago Tribune.

The Jan/Feb 2024 issue of Art & Antiques magazine includes a special feature article on the Art Institute of Chicago's exhibition, Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan.

Hattori Makiko's work is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago's RADICAL CLAY: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan and is featured on the exhibition catalogue's cover.

Radical Clay celebrates 36 contemporary ceramic artists—all women—through 40 stunning, virtuosic pieces.

Drawn from the Lassiter/Ferraro Collection, this exhibition at the Mint Museum in North Carolina pairs Japanese three-dimensional objects with those by Western contemporaries.

Porcelains in the Mist: The Kondō Family of Ceramicists brings together sixty-one pieces that celebrate the Kondō family’s innovations and talents. 

“I have always been trying to bridge painting and ceramics in my artistic practice. My newer works exist along the boundary between painting and crafts, which has been an interest of mine for a long time.”

The art world's first art newspaper features TEMPEST, the most highly anticipated exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD in years. Opening for Asia Week New York's fall edition

"La galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss, dedicada al arte japonés, presenta en su sede de Nueva York, del 14 de septiembre al 20 de octubre, la exposición titulada «Tempest: New Sculpture», by Fujikasa Satoko."

"En alliant le savoir-faire céramique traditionnel de son pays à une esthétique résolument moderne, elle réussit à incarner en volume le même dynamisme que celui tant admiré de la Grande Vague de Kanagawa du peintre Hokusai."

The Sept/Oct issue of Orientations magazine covers gallery artist Fujikasa Satoko's latest exhibition titled, TEMPEST

In advance of our presentation at the Park Avenue Armory in January 2024, The Winter Show takes a look at exhibitors' fall programming which includes our September show

The latest exhibition of work by extraordinary artist Fujikasa Satoko is on the Consulate General of Japan in New York's September exhibitions calendar

NYでは4年ぶりとなる藤笠砂都子の個展「TEMPEST」がジョーンBマービスで開催される。ダイナミックで流動感のある作品は、自然の姿や生命力をテーマとして制作され、今回の展覧会では「Tempest（嵐）」と名付けられた大作を披露する。

Yomitime, a Japanese-language publication in New York, features the lateset exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD

From exquisite vessels to daring sculptures, works in this exhibition play with celadon’s categorical boundaries and challenge our assumptions of its definition.

Coming to Life: Vernal Expressions in Clay is listed in the Japanese-language publication

Gallery artist Tanaka Yū is honored with an award for innovative ceramic artists under 40

La galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss, dedicada al arte japonés, presenta en su sede de Nueva York, del 2 de mayo al 16 de junio, la exposición titulada «Coming to life: Vernal Expressions in Clay. New Work by Hattori Makiko»

This announcement is updated to include photos from her January 2024 exhibition at The Museum of Kyoto

This spring, two Japanese ceramic artists, still early in their careers, consider the timely themes of birth and growth in all new works created for Joan B Mirviss LTD.

Coming to Life: Vernal Expressions in Clay at Joan B Mirviss LTD is featured in the Exposure section of the May 2023 Ceramics Monthly magazine's print and digital editions. 

With sales nearing $130M, Asia Week New York returns with robust sales, enthusiastic crowds

“Almost universally, I’ve heard that [every gallery] did well this year and I don’t remember that happening for a long time,” says Joan Mirviss, who is a cofounder of Asia Week New York.

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of ceramic artist Kawasaki Tsuyoshi on March 13, 2023. At Tokyo University of the Arts, he studied ceramics under Living National Treasures Fujimoto Yoshimichi Nōdō (1919-92) and Tamura Kōichi (1918-87). 

"[Wada Morihiro's] work brings to mind the early movements in European avant-garde: Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and particularly the abstract canvases of German modernist Paul Klee."

ArtDaily News features Joan B Mirviss LTD's spring 2023 Asia Week exhibition, PAINTED CLAY

Del 16 de marzo al 14 de abril se puede ver en la prestigiosa galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss LTD la exposición dedicada al gran maestro japonés Wada Morihiro y a la tradición de la decoración pintada en la cerámica de Japón

和太守卑良と日本の近代陶芸展 画廊ジョーンBマービスで

"New York’s annual festival of Asian art has returned to full strength. Our critic selects seven of the most eye-catching works to anchor your itinerary." Will Heinrich of the New York Times reports

Japanese-language publication NY Seikatsu features PAINTED CLAY Wada Morihiro and Modern Ceramics of Japan in their latest issue. 

Exhibitions and sales lined up for the 14th edition of the annual celebration of Asian art in New York

A Japan-related event highlighted by the Consulate General of Japan in New York

Multi-venue events around the world are finally getting back on their feet and Asia Week New York is no exception.

The spring 2023 issue of ORIENTATIONS highlights upcoming gallery exhibitions for Asia Week New York

"For Joan Mirviss, one of the event's co-founders, Asia Week New York has turned the city into 'the global centre for pan-Asian art.'"

"A festive Winter Show celebrated its 69th season with a return to its longtime venue, the Park Avenue Armory," writes Laura Beach of Antiques and The Arts Weekly.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the sudden passing of the truly gifted clay artist, Minegishi Seikō.

"Hasta el 29 de enero, con motivo de la celebración de la feria neoyorquina «The Winter Show», se puede visitar la exposición dedicada a los grandes nombres de la ceramista japonesa, organizada por la prestigiosa galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss LTD."

An Oribe glazed teabowl by Japanese ceramic master Okabe Mineo at Joan B Mirviss LTD is a Winter Show highlight in Antiques Trade Gazette

Work from the artist's international debut at Joan B Mirviss LTD is featured in Ceramics Monthly's Exposure section. 

"We Japanese have a saying, 'Tomorrow brings tomorrow's winds,' which means, 'Tomorrow is another day.' I earnestly wish that tomorrow's wind will be one of hope. In my latest work, I tried to express that 'hope' and 'prayer' in different ways." - Hayashi Kaku

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN ASIAN ART: Joan B Mirviss LTD presents Hayashi Kaku | Eternal Currents

La galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss, dedicada al arte japonés, presenta en su sede de Nueva York, del 30 de noviembre al 13 de enero, la exposición titulada «Eternal Currents. New Work by Hayashi Kaku»

陶芸・工芸作家・林香君(はやしかく)の個展「Eternal Currents」が、11月29日(火)から1月13日(金)まで、アッパーイーストサイドの画廊ジョーンBマービスで開催される。

Hasta el 28 de octubre se puede visitar en la prestigiosa galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss LTD la exposición de la ceramista japonesa Ogawa Machiko

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved friend Halsey North after a long illness. He was a groundbreaking art collector, influential champion of both the visual and performing arts, dedicated museum patron, and through those roles, he touched many lives with his generous spirit, intelligence, warm presence and boundless enthusiasm.

Asia Week New York Features the Finest Treasures from Across the Globe... including a sculptural vessel form by Ogawa Machiko on view at Joan B Mirviss LTD.

New work from RED EARTH on exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD is featured in the September 2022 print issue of Ceramics Monthly magazine.

"Listening to Clay sheds light on how Japanese clay workers went from skilled production craftspeople to fine artists, transforming the country’s culture in the process."

The latest exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD in honor of the publication by Alice and Halsey North and Louise Allison Cort is featured in Ceramics Now

"Hasta el 26 de agosto se puede visitar en la Galería Joan B. Mirviss LTD, de Nueva York, está exposición que muestra obra seleccionada de algunos de los más destacados ceramistas japoneses de las últimas décadas."

"With few exceptions, until the publication of Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists, English readers have lacked access to interviews of Japanese ceramists," writes professor Meghen Jones. 

Artnet News selected our ZOOM Gallery Talk as a highlight of this week's many art events and happenings around town. 

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of our treasured gallery artist, Ogata Kamio.

Asia Week New York and Joan B Mirviss LTD present Listening to Clay: The Artists, Curators, and Collectors Who Listen

Asia Week New York–in partnership with Joan B Mirviss LTD–will celebrate the publication of Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists, which coincides with the gallery’s exhibition on view from July 19th to August 26th.  

"This book contextualizes the techniques, cultural attitudes towards, and markets for ceramics in twentieth-century Japan."

The Japanese-language publication features our upcoming summer exhibition

The latest exhibition at Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet in Paris spotlights the remarkable careers and innovative clay works of Japanese women artists in the postwar era. The exhibition features many gallery artists including Fujino Sachiko, Kitamura Junko, Katsumata Chieko, Futamura Yoshimi, and others. 

The latest exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD featuring the Bizen tradition and the illustrious Kaneshige family, alongside the Hagi tradition and the prominent Miwa family, is published in the latest edition of CERAMICS NOW magazine.

Adapting their production, greatly expanding their styles, and influencing their brothers, sons, and grandchildren, patriarchs Kaneshige Tōyō and Miwa Kyūwa (Kyūsetsu X) definitively transformed their family’s legacy from that of dutiful craftsmen to boldly modern artists. Joan B Mirviss LTD’s latest exhibition celebrates the past, present, and future of these two prominent families synonymous with excellence in BRANCHING OUT.

The Bizen ware of Kaneshige Tōyō (1896-1967) and the Hagi ware of Miwa Kyūwa (1895-1981) star at 'Branching Out', an exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD, New York.

The latest issue of Yomitime features Joan B Mirviss LTD's upcoming exhibition, Branching Out

Joan B Mirviss LTD's latest exhibition highlights with introduction and images are now on AsianArt.com 

"Fresh from Asia Week and her...gallery exhibit of work by contemporary ceramist Kondo Takahiro, whose remarkable porcelain pieces glisten with his signature “silver mist” glaze, Mirviss has been on a selling spree."

The artist's exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD this spring was reviewed in Gallery & Studio's print and online issues

Contemporary ink painter Bingyi is exhibiting her latest works in "Land of Immortals" at Joan B Mirviss LTD

The Winter Show has always had a strong component of Asian art.

"Joan B Mirviss Ltd. celebrates the Japanese aesthetic principle kazari  – the interplay of a specific art object with its spatial and temporal context  – exemplified here with the contemporary ceramics of Sawada Hayato, Seto Takemi and Maeda Masahiro."

Joan B Mirviss LTD's curated presentation KAZARI: Beyond Decoration is a stand-out

This year, the Winter Show will come to bloom—just this once—in spring.
The fair, which was postponed from January due to a pandemic spike, will also have a brand new, one-time location to boot: the former flagship location of Barneys New York at 660 Madison Avenue. 

The Exposure section of the April 2022 issue of Ceramics Monthly magazine features Kondō Takahiro's stunning marbleized porcelain teabowls. In both print and online editions.

La galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., presenta en la Asia Week New York, del 16 al 25 de marzo la exposición dedicada a la obra del artista japones Kondō Takahiro.

“Asia Week New York is extremely delighted to welcome back collectors, curators and Asian art enthusiasts with an exciting calendar of in-person activities at the galleries and auction houses,” said chairman Dessa Goddard.

The Asia Week New York segment on NBC News 4 New York featured Kondō Takahiro's latest sculptures at Joan B Mirviss LTD

After six years of planning, acclaimed contemporary artist Kondō Takahiro presents his latest solo exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD this spring for Asia Week New York. 

Joan B Mirviss LTD presents "Kondō Takahiro: Making Waves" for Asia Week New York at 39 East 78th Street (Madison Ave), 4th floor, New York. Shown alongside Kondō's daring sculptures are ink paintings by artist Bingyi titled, "Land of Immortals."

"Whether you are a local New Yorker, visiting for the event, or a remote enthusiast, read on for a glimpse of the treasures that Asia Week brings to light."

The Japanese language publication Yomitime features Kondō Takahiro's show, Making Waves, in their latest issue

Kondō Takahiro's latest exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD, MAKING WAVES, will feature all new works in marbleized porcelain and his signature "silver mist" overglaze.

When Asia Week New York launches its nine-day extravaganza of exhibitions, auctions and museum shows on March 16th, almost half of the top-tier galleries will present a stunning array of contemporary paintings, prints, ink paintings, ceramics, bamboo sculpture, and photography.

La galería neoyorquina Joan B. Mirviss, presenta en su sede de Nueva York, del 1 al 10 de abril, la exposición titulada «Kazari: Más allá de la decoración», en la que no falta la cerámica

Big deals in the Big Apple for Asia Week New York.  -Antiques Trade Gazette

"Early on, Kamoda’s exhibitions were met with crowds who lined up around the block to see his elegant, elusive works."

Gallery artist Tanaka Yū's Bundle (2019), a gift of Gordon Brodfuehrer, is highlighted in the February 25 issue of Antiques and The Arts Weekly. 

The Winter Show has announced that the 68th edition of the fair will take place April 1–10, 2022 at 660 Madison Avenue, the former flagship location of Barneys New York, following the postponement of its previously scheduled January dates due to surges in COVID-19 cases.

"Joan B. Mirviss will dedicate a solo show to Takahiro Kondo, whose clay vessels are decorated with his signature gintekisai, or 'silver mist', overglaze in which ink appears to swirl and pool over the surface." 

The Winter Show’s 68th edition will run from April 1 through April 10 inside the former flagship location of Barneys New York at 660 Madison Avenue.

Originally scheduled for this January at the Park Avenue Armory, The Winter Show 2022 has been postponed. East Side House is currently looking for both alternative dates and possible venues, aiming for this spring.

Garland magazine, an arts and letters publication based out of Australia, has featured Kawase Shinobu's latest. 

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of Koinuma Michio, a ceramic artist who our collectors had the opportunity to visit in 2013. 

Kawase Shinobu's latest exhibition is listed on their notable events calendar in New York. 

Kawase Shinobu's latest exhibition is in Yomitime, the Japanese language newspaper. 

Kawase Shinobu: Mastery of Celadon is highlighted in the latest Ceramics Now Weekly newsletter. 

Kawase Shinobu: Mastery of Celadon is featured in the latest print and online editions of Ceramics Monthly magazine. 

"After 40 years, Joan Mirviss has seen all my phases and witnessed my evolution as an artist. I am greatly pleased to present to my audience in the West these latest works, so that they too may experience and understand the transformation of my work," says the artist. 

Having represented Kawase Shinobu for decades, and witnessed his development and artistic growth, Joan B Mirviss LTD is thrilled to present thirty-five works created for his latest show that irrefutably declares his mastery of celadon.

Jeff Shapiro, ceramic artist based in upstate New York, is featured in the latest issue of Revista Ceramica. 

A feature article on our Asia Week New York fall 2020 exhibition, "Fathers & Sons," is in the latest Revista Ceramica. 

Our spring exhibition artist is featured in the Spanish language magazine's print edition

The latest gallery publication, Tradition Redefined: Rosanjin and His Rivals, gets a glowing review in Infocerámica magazine, published out of Spain./ La galería neoyorquina especializada en arte japonés presenta este libro con ocasión de la exposición que se pudo ver en sus salas, dedicada a la cerámica de Kitaōji Rosanjin y otros ceramistas de su misma época.

Hori Ichirō exemplifies the best in Japanese ceramic artistry, as he is rooted in classical styles while bringing those traditions forward with a strikingly contemporary flair. 

Classical Dignity, Contemporary Beauty, featuring artists Hori Ichirō and Itō Hidehito from the historic Mino region of Japan, is now open at Joan B Mirviss LTD. Highlighted in this week's issue of Ceramics Now.

The latest exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD, Classical Dignity, Contemporary Beauty, is prominently featured in the Exposure section of Ceramics Monthly magazine print and digital editions. 

Through steadfast experimentation, Itō Hidehito pushed himself to create his largest ever works exclusively for his New York debut at Joan B Mirviss LTD. 

For his first solo exhibition outside of Japan, Itō Hidehito displays his exceptional skill in craquelure celadon with all new works created for Joan B Mirviss LTD. 

Our latest exhibitions at Joan B Mirviss LTD are featured in Orientations magazine's Sept/Oct 2021 issue. Classical Dignity, Contemporary Beauty marks the New York debut and first solo exhibition outside of Japan for both Hori Ichirō and Itō Hidehito. 

Face masks are encouraged for all visitors to the gallery. Appointments are highly recommended to avoid overcrowding during our busy spring season. 

The latest exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD showcases the many ways that earth, through fire, can appear to transform into completely different materials. The featured artists take advantage of this elemental change to shape clay into strikingly inventive sculptures.

‘I think the boundaries between craft and art are starting to slowly disappear—we are starting to look at craft in a very different way,’ says LOEWE Creative Director and prize jurist Jonathan Anderson.

Fujino Sachiko's latest multi-dimensional clay forms challenge the viewer to think beyond petals and blossoms.

A magnificent sculpture by Fujino Sachiko from her latest exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD, FORMING A VOICE, is featured in Ceramics Monthly magazine. 

Forming a Voice: New Sculpture by Fujino Sachiko opens May 11. Fujino's earlier explorations in both stark geometric forms and organic blooms merge to find new expression here in velvety gray-black or gray-white.

"This show is an extremely rewarding kind of free-for-all, with Rosanjin being especially adept at conflating aspects of different styles." ROBERTA SMITH

Joan B Mirviss LTD's Rosanjin exhibition is recommended in this month's issue of ME NO ME magazine, a respected arts and antiques publication in Japan.

Works from New York-based artist Jeff Shapiro are featured in the April 2021 issue of Ceramics Monthly. 

Artworks by Kitaōji Rosanjin from Joan B Mirviss LTD's latest exhibition, TRADITION REDEFINED, are featured in Ceramics Monthly magazine.

This powerful vessel of 1955 flaunts Rosanjin’s genius for imbuing a classical form with a striking sense of modernity.

Dealers take part in events from across the Atlantic
08 March 2021 | Anne Crane
While plenty of Asian auctions are taking place for Asia Week New York (March 11-20), this annual US spring event will be rather different for galleries.

Infocerámica, an international ceramics magazine based in Spain, has published information about Tradition Redefined: Rosanjin and His Rivals, the upcoming exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD for Asia Week New York 2021. Opening March 11. 
 

NEW YORK, NY.- Joan B Mirviss LTD, along with Asia Week New York, will host a Zoom panel discussion on the influence and legacy of Hokusai's most celebrated woodblock print, "The Great Wave." Expert panelists will delve into the history versus the legend, the myths and misconceptions, and the technical variations present in impressions in prominent collections.

ART REVIEW
The Wall Street Journal

‘Hands & Earth: Perspectives on Japanese Contemporary Ceramics’ Review: A Kiln-Fired Culture
An exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art spotlights ceramic works of the past century that speak to Japan’s traditional style and technique.

Ceramics Art + Perception issue #116 available now

Contemporary Japanese ceramics stand at the top of artistic imagination, traditionally seen as the ultimate expression of Japanese spirit, art, and daily life. Over the past two decades, a new generation of ceramicists have redefined and reshaped clay art, formulating their own personal imaginative statements, and taking ceramics to new horizons. It has become a specialized area of collecting, which attracts passionate and dedicated collectors fascinated with the ambitious achievements in the clay medium.  

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of Koie Ryōji, a bold and experimental artist best known for his ceramics. 

 We are very excited to report that long-time and passionate supporters of fine art and art history in the Cleveland area, Joseph and Nancy Keithley, have recently donated 111 important artworks to The Cleveland Museum of Art. The gift includes major European Impressionist and Post-Impressionist and American paintings and drawings by artists such as Milton Avery, Pierre Bonnard, George Braque, Pierre Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Edouard Vuillard; Chinese antique ceramics; and modern Japanese ceramic masterworks by Ishiguro Munemaro (1893-1968) and Okabe Mineo  (1919-1990) together with contemporary works by Mihara Ken (b. 1958), Morino Hiroaki Taimei (b. 1934), Takegoshi Jun (b.1948) and Sakiyama Takeyuki (b. 1958).

Kondō Takahiro is a winner of the 33rd Kyoto Art Culture Award. The selection committee was impressed with Kondō's original techniques that he has developed over his career. They also cited the originality he has shown in a wide range of works, from nominally functional vessels to figurative sculptures.
The Kyoto Art Culture Award is given to those who have made a great contribution to Kyoto's culture through artistic activities.
 

The Japan Ceramic Society awards the Japan Ceramic Society Prize to artists who have achieved outstanding work, and the Japan Ceramic Society Gold Prize to artists who have left a profound mark on the world of ceramic art. From the traditional to the objet d'art, the varied expressions of modern ceramic works by award-winning artists are now appearing together in one place.

Congratulations to Sakiyama Takayuki (b. 1958) for being selected as one of the shortlist for the 2020 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the publication of The Allure of Japanese Contemporary Ceramics by Joan B Mirviss. Subtitled for the Japanese market: “What only the Japanese do not understand about the truth in regards to Japanese modern clay art!", the book was written to awaken Japan to the extraordinary beauty, power and diversity of this art form that is–– NOW collected by over sixty museums in the US alone, the focus of countless exhibitions and passionately acquired by sophisticated collectors around the globe.

"Most people, when they see a beautiful object say, “that’s lovely” or “I want that”. Very few say, “I want to learn how to make that”, and even fewer say, “I know how to do that”. Ogata Kamio is that rare individual who not only saw something wonderful in ancient Chinese neriage pottery, but also had the desire and willpower to learn the technique for himself, despite no formal training. In Waves of Optical Illusion: Ogata Kamio, he takes thin layers of colored clay, laminates them, then uses a potter’s wheel to throw the clay into bowls or vessels. After creating the form, the clay is cut across the grain to give the piece texture and show various colors under the top layer. The result is striking, with the eye following the complex pattern of the surface and the color as it also revels in the symmetry of the overall shape."

September 13, 2019 --With work now on view in the exhibition “Living Clay: Artists Respond to Nature,” Futamura Yoshimi will give an artist talk from 6:30 pm to 7:30pm at Pillsbury Auditorium on Friday, September 13, 2019. Please visit their website for online tickets.  

We are delighted to announce that Iguchi Daisuke, a clay artist whose first US solo exhibition we hosted in March 2018, won the grand prize at this year’s Paramita Museum Ceramics Arts Exhibition.  He becomes the eighth artist who has been represented by Joan B Mirviss LTD to win this prestigious award. Previous winners were Mihara Ken (‘06), Kawabata Kentarō (‘07), Nagae Shigekazu (’09), Wakao Kei (’10), Wada Akira (’11), Itō Hidehito (’13) and Kino Satoshi (’17).     

We are pleased to announce that as of May, 2019, Miwa Kazuhiko (b. 1951) has assumed the family title of Miwa Kyūsetsu XIII after his brother, Miwa Kyūsetsu XII (Ryōsaku)'s retirement. Miwa Kyūsetsu XII will continue creative activity but under the name Ryūkishō. This transfer marks the continuation of the ceramic lineage of the Miwa family which has, for four centuries, been the most celebrated family working in the Hagi tradition.

NEW YORK CITY — This year, the phenomenon known as Asia Week New York — when everyone who is anyone in the world of Asian art and antiques descends on New York City for a whirlwind series of lectures, gallery openings, sales, shows and receptions — celebrated its tenth year. In addition to works on view at six New York City auction houses, as well as auctions conducted more distantly in both Philadelphia and Boston, seven dealers debuted this season, bringing the total of galleries participating in the annual event to 48 dealers.

March 20, 2019—A new exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) highlights recent work by more than a dozen living Japanese women clay artists who evoke or respond to the natural world in diverse ways, some traditional, others wholly novel. 

We are pleased to announce that Kakurezaki Ryūichi (b. 1950) is designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Asset by Okayama prefecture as of March 2019.

Kakurezaki makes unique Bizen ware at his kiln in Setouchi which he established after studying under Isezaki Jun (b. 1936). While he works within the tradition of Bizen, his work is quite aesthetically different from conventional Bizen wares. His fresh and independent vision has inspired other potters to contend with classical forms. 

The 10th anniversary celebration of Asia Week New York—the Asian art extravaganza—which concluded on March 23, 2019– reported that combined sales totaled $150,544,501. At press time, this figure includes 43 out of 48 galleries and the five six auction houses: Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Heritage Auctions and Sotheby’s. (iGavel’s online sale ends April 16). 

To mark the 10- year milestone, a champagne reception was held in the Patrons Lounge at The Metropolitan Museum of Art to honor a group of ten distinguished collectors, museum professionals and dealers, who have made significant contributions to advancing Asian art in North America. The honorees included Diane and Arthur Abbey, Dr. Julia and John Curtis, Maxwell “Mike” Hearn, Elizabeth B. “Lillie” and Edward “Ned” Johnson 3d, James Lally, Soyoung Lee, Stephen Little, Joan B. Mirviss, Amy G. Poster, and Shelley and Donald Rubin.

NEW YORK, NY - Asia Week New York got off to a roaring start last week, when 48 galleries, 6 auction houses-Bonhams, Christie's, Doyle, Heritage, iGavel, and Sotheby's and 16 museums opened their doors to collectors, curators, and connoisseurs who converged in New York to get their annual eyeful of what's on offer at the galleries and auction houses now through March 23rd.

Editor's Picks: 11 Things Not to Miss in New York's Art World This Week, Asia Week New York Edition

Mirviss says: "Tomimoto "transformed the course of 20th century ceramics and the field of contemporary clay on a global stage, and he had some major credos, one of them being to not make pattern from patterns...

The Buddhas, Gods and Emperors of Asia Week New York

Joan B. Mirviss, a dealer specialising in Japanese art and ceramics, has organized a retrospective (with a lavish bilingual catalogue) of the work of the ceramicist Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963), who travelled to England and befriended Bernard Leach.

VESSEL EXPLORED / VESSEL TRANSFORMED
Tomimoto Kenkichi and his Enduring Legacy
Joan Mirviss, 13 March to 19 April

Joan Mirviss has devoted more than four dcades to the promotion and support of mainly 20th-century Japanese clay wares in New York and this year's solo showcase is in collaboration with Japan-based Shibuya Kurodatoen Co for the artist and teacher Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963).

Joan B Mirviss Ltd, with the invaluable assistance of Shibuya Kurodatoen Co., Ltd, Japan's leading modern ceramic dealer, is honoured to present "Vessel Explored / Vessel Transformed- Tomimoto Kenkichi and His Enduring Legacy". Joan Mirviss explained: "Tomimoto is revered as the father of his field. He was the most significant figure in the world of 20th 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."

NEW YORK CITY - Joan B Mirviss with the assistance of Japan's modern ceramic dealer, Shibuya Kurodatoen Co, is presenting "Vessel Explored/Vessel Transformed: Tomimoto Kenkichi and His Enduring Legacy" from March 13 - April 20. This exhibition and its accompanying publication, the first of its type outside Japan, focuses on the artist and teacher Tomimoto Kenkichi.

Joan B. Mirviss, a dealer specialising in Japanese art and ceramics, has organised a retrospective (with a lavish bilingual catalogue) of the work of the ceramicist Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963), who travelled to England and befriended Bernard Leach. Tomimoto encouraged his countrymen to study Western art and pursue invention in clay rather than repetition of traditional patterns. 'Vessel Explored / Vessel Transformed: Tomimoto Kenkichi and His Enduring Legacy' will explore Tomimoto's inspirations including Aristide Maillol's fleshy bronze women and William Morris's fern repeats, as well as contemporary Japanese artisans influenced by Tomimoto. Mirviss says that few American collectors and institutions are aware of his work. She needs to tell his story, she explains, at a high-profile time like Asia Week.

"We cannot ignore Asia," said Mike Hearn, Chair of the Asian Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to a nodding crowd of collectors, dealers, and journalists, gathered in anticipation of Asia Week New York, an annual 10-day celebration of Asian Art.

The Winter Show is back, with its 65th Anniversary Sapphire Jubilee taking place from January 18th to 27th at New York's Park Avenue Armory.

NEW YORK CITY - "The Five Elements" - Gogyō / Five Japanese Masters of the Art of Clay" features the work of Yoshikawa Masamichi (b. 1946), Futamura Yoshimi (b. 1959), Kakurezaki Ryuichi (b. 1950), Kaneta Masanao (b. 1953), and Kondo Takahiro (b. 1958)

'At fifteen years old, I realised that I wanted to use my hands to create something', says Nagoya-born, Paris-based artist Yoshimi Futamura. 

Connoisseur, collector, curator or simply an admirer of beauty- all are beneficiaries of the current golden age of Japanes ceramics.

The Asia Week New York Association announces that forty-eight international galleries and six auction houses- Bonhams, Christie's, Doyle, Heritage Auctions, iGavel, and Sotheby's will participate in the 10th anniveresary edition of Asia Week New York 2019, the ten-day celebration of Asian Art and culture that spans the metropolitan region from March 13 through 23, 2019.

"Ogawa does not so much use clay to achieve self-expression as make herself the means through which the clay reveals its inner strength"

This is the third solo show of the female artist at the gallery. Featuring two main bodies of work, the show focusses on her minerology and torn sculpture series.

Fukumoto Fuku and Kino Satoshi have received Encouragement Awards at Japan Ceramic Society Encouragement Awards Kansai Region Exhibition on Septemer 17.

Today, Japanese clay art is experiencing one of the richest and most diverse periods in its long history. Throughout 2018, three lobby displays, curated by Joan B. Mirviss, an authority on Japanese ceramics and a New York City gallery owner for 40 years, will feature the work of ground-breaking Japanese ceramists who stand on the world stage, boldly asserting their independence, creativity, and technical genius.

Traditional Japanese paintings are an excellent buying opportunity, as well as a portal into a world of timeless grace and beauty.

Central New York Gallery Joan B Mirviss LTD will hold four exhibitions over the coming year to highlight the work of four monumental ceramicists.

Mishima Kimiyo (b. 1932) has long been known for her trompe l'oiel ceramic objects that appear to be newspapers or household trash. Two recent exhibitions in Tokyo offered paintings, mixed-media and found objects plus large-scale installations including fiberglass, as well as the expected variety of ceramic work. One show was impressive for its breadth and the other was staggering for its large scale.

The Gardiner Museum is focusing on Japan in 2018. In the Museum's lobby over the course of the year, three linked displays form an exhibition celebrating thirty outstanding contemporary Japanese artists.

Japan Now gives an unparalleled opportunity for Canadians to see the latest work being produced today by Japanese artists, at a time when Japanese clay is experiencing one of the richest and most diverse periods of its history.

Hoshino Satoru (b. 1945), has established an international reputation through residencies and guest teaching, and for his large installations. While this gallery is a modest space, low-ceilinged and windowless, he transformed it into a dark field of motion with his Beginning Form-Spiral '17.

NEW YORK CITY - Joan B Mirviss, Ltd presents the work of Hoshino Kayoko and Satoru in "Double Spiral: The Sculptural Art of Hoshino Kayoko and Satoru," an exhibition devoted to more than 30 new works by this celebrated ceramicist couple. The exhibition continues through June 15.

Collectors of contemporary Japanese ceramics have a marvelous opportunity to acquire new works on May 1 when Double Spiral, a selling exhibition of 30 stunning pieces by renowned contemporary Japanese husband and wife potters Hoshino Kayoko and Hoshino Satoru, opens at the Joan B. Mirviss gallery on New York's Upper East Side. "The exhibition highlights the intertwining physical and spiritual worlds of the couple within their practices, and explores the balance of opposites as represented by the yin-yang taikyokuzu symbol," says Mirviss of the selection of pottery pieces on offer.

Asia Week New York - the ten-day Asian art extravaganza that concluded on March 24, reports that combined sales totaled $169,819,900. At press time, this figure includes 41 out of 45 galleries and the four auction houses: Bonhams, Christie's, Doyle and Sotheby's.

"Mirviss selections are beyond comparison. This is truly the only show in town."

Joan Mirviss's taste in contemporary Japanese ceramics is well known and this year she is presenting works by Matsui Kosei (1927-2003), Kamoda Shoji (1933-1983) and Wada Morihiro (1944-2008), major innovators in the scheme of 20th-century Japanese ceramics.

Works from three of Japan's most accomplished clay artists are on display to coincide with Asia Week; the works of Shoji, Kosei, and Morihiro are functional and innovative, each with their own individual style.

Kamoda Shōji was arguably the top ceramist in the incredibly rich history of 20th-century Japanese ceramics. Joan B. Mirviss LTD (New York) is placing a large body of his work, neve before seen outside of Japan front and center, in Three Giants of The North: Kamoda Shōji, Matsui Kōsei and Wada Morihiro. This masterpiece from his mature period, with over-glaze enamel blue elements, flaunts his genius at creating an elegant unity between form and surface. 39 East 78th Street, Suite 401

Joan B. Mirviss LTD

Ceramics enthusiasts will leave Mirviss's gallery feeling absolutely energized. For around ten years, Mirviss has been preparing "Three Giants of The North," a selling exhibition combining works from three superstar Japanese ceramists from the 20th century: Kamoda Shoji, Matsui Kosei, and Wada Morihiro. Here, an assemblage of colorful, textured works from the masters of clay will be shown in the U.S. for the first time.

In the field of ceramics, a number of excellent works are on show. A joint exhibition by Kaikoko and Chambers Fine Art provides an intriguing pairing, placing Neolithic Chinese and Japanese pots side by side, to show how the respective aesthetic values of the two cultures - formality and strucure versus organic freedom - were evident even 2,500 years ago. Joan B Mirviss introduces three modern clay artists from Japan who are little-known in the west but whom she believes have 'contributed to altering the style and aesthetic of Japanese ceramic history'. One is Matsui Kosei (1927-2003), a priest and potter who revived the 'neriage' technique for marbling clay, creating his own version; a sort of mille-feuille of thin layers of differently coloured clays which he would then throw and sometimes chisel.

Galleries

Several angular pots by Wada Morihiro (1944-2008), one of the three major 20th-century Japanese ceramic artists to which her current show is dedicated, are on compact but extroardinary display at Joan B Mirviss, incised with complex patterns and painted in a striking combination of black, white and red slip accented with green glaze. 39 East 78th Street, suite 401; 212-799-4021; mirviss.com

The collection of ceramics by the excellent 20th-century potter Kamoda Shoji at Joan B. Mirviss is a notable highlight. An added bonus: The pieces have never been shown outside of Japan.

Asia Week's Rare and Unusual Objects for Art Lovers and Collectors

The collection of ceramics by the excellent 20th-century potter Kamoda Shōji at Joan B. Mirviss is a notable highlight. An added bonus: The pieces have never been shown outside of Japan.

Joan discusses Asia Week New York and the current shift in art collecting.

Joan B Mirviss was mentioned in Antiques And The Arts Weekly

Joan B Mirviss was mentioned in the New York Times

"After 40 years, Joan Mirviss' US gallery is a game-changer for young Japanese artists"

"Fujikasa's Stoneware Takes Flight" by Janet Koplos in "Ceramics: Art and Perception"

The inaugural Asia Week Contemporary is a huge success with a enthusiastic response from collectors.

The inaugural Asia Week New York Contemporary arrives on May 2-10

Widespread success at Asia Week New York 2017

A new acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum of art was also featured in a Joan B Mirviss exhibition

This week's issue of Antiques and the Arts Weekly featured a Q & A with Joan about her 40th anniversary show

We were recently featured in the New York Times for Asia Week

Joan B Mirviss LTD's exhibition, Ao: Colors of Nature in Blue+Green, presenting carefully selected Japanese art that explores the subtleties of ao, was featured in the online newspaper ArtDaily.

Flow #1 by Fujikasa Satoko has been selected for The Poster Project at the Portland Art Museum and has become one of the most popular works viewed on the museum's website.

Joan B Mirviss LTD's exhibition, Waves of Ink: Painting in Porcelain, presenting the artwork of Kondo Takahiro was featured in the online newspaper ArtDaily. 

Waves of Ink: Painting in Porcelain, our upcoming exhibition of new works by Kondo Takahiro, is featured on the Fall Asia Week New York website. 

Long-time friend and client of Joan Mirviss LTD, Steven Korff, and his wonderful ceramic collection were featured in the New York Times.

It is with tremendous sadness that I announce the death of one of the seminal figures in the world of Japanese contemporary ceramics, Madame Tomo Kikuchi. She passed away on August 20th at the age of 93 and her funeral was held on the 24th at which time more than 1500 people were in attendance. Her impact on the field was unrivaled and global.

Akiyama Yō's major retrospective exhibition on view at the Musée Tomo in Tokyo from April 2 to July 24, 2016.

Joan B Mirviss LTD is featured in Antiques and The Arts Weekly article on Asia Week 2016.

Water jar,by Kondō Takahiro, featured in New York Times article on Asia Week 2016.

Sculpture by Fujikasa Satoko and more featured in the article Floating Earth.
 

The Joan B Mirviss booth at the Winter Antiques Show was featured in the New York Times.

Joan B Mirviss LTD is thrilled to announce that the Takashimaya Art Award, presented by the Takashimaya Cultural Foundation (Takashimaya Bunka Kikin), has been betowed upon Fujikasa Satoko.

Katsumata Chieko's "Akoda," 2014, is featured in an exhibition called "Ceramix."
 

Exhibition press release.

Gift from Phyllis Kempner and David Stein expands museum's collection of contemporary art

 

An article by William Grimes of the New York Times discussing Asia Week New York and "Tsubo: The Art of the Vessel."

The Harn Museum will host an interactive workshop with gallery artist, Akiyama Yō, featuring a guest lecture by Joan B. Mirviss, and noted collectors, Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz.

"This exhibition celebrates selected works of contemporary Japanese ceramics from the Paul and Kathy Bissinger Collection of San Francisco. Works displayed here demonstrate how Japanese artists are continuing the long tradition of Japanese ceramics, even as they depart from the traditional in search of the new."

-Tradition on Fire at the Asian Art Museum

 

JBM artist Miwa Ryōsaku has made the list of artists featured in a look at 10 cool trends in contemporary ceramics.

 

Asia Week New York—the nine-day Asian art extravaganza—ended on a stupendous note: $200 million in sales, exceeding last year’s number by $25 million. From the minute the 47 international galleries of Asia Week New York opened their doors on March 14, a whirlwind of activities invigorated the city. The annual event was celebrated with a magnificent reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 17, where the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed more than 600 collectors, curators and Asian art specialists. The event ignited excitement that burned for the entire week, and the Asian art world buzzed with exhibitions and record-breaking auctions that were thronged with international buyers from mainland China, Taiwan, India, Japan, Korea and the United States.

The Brooklyn Museum's Asian Art galleries are closed for reconstruction until next year, but you can see 71 works from their collection, covering more than 2,000 years, at Japan Society (333 East 47th Street). Meanwhile the Met has an exhibition devoted to Edo period (1635-1868) painting that includes 12 folding screens and numerous scrolls. The Noguchi Museum (9-01 33rd Road, at Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens) is showing drawings from the late 1920's and early '30's in which the Japanese-American sculptor Isama Noguchi began to break away, stylistically, from his mentor, Constantin Brancusi..

“One doesn’t need an art history degree to appreciate contemporary Japanese ceramics,” says Joan Mirviss of Joan B. Mirviss Ltd. in New York.

Joan Mirviss has collaborated with the Tokyo-based Shibuya Kurodatoen Co. Ltd to present Japan in Black and White: Ink and Clay. 

In the exhibition "Japan Black and White: Ink and Clay," New York-based Joan B Mirviss Ltd 39 East 78th Street will show screen-style sculpture by Yamada Hikaru (1923-2001) titled "Tohen Mandara" in 1973. The works manifest Hikaru's radical approach in the manipulation of clay.

The Cincinnati Art Museum lately has been concentrating on what it calls “node” shows — small-to-medium-size exhibitions and gallery changes highlighting its collection or local angles.

Some of this fair's clarity results from stalls devoted exclusively or primarily to the efforts of one maker. Joan B. Mirviss has a taste-shifting display of the encrusted, elaboratively flanged ceramics of Koike Shok, a revered Japanese artist in her late 60s who looks to coral and seashells for inspiration.

Manhattan dealer, Joan B. Mirviss, who specializes in Japanese ceramics and art, is hosting an exhibition titled The Eight Winds: Chinese Influence on Japanese Ceramics.

From The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto's Website:
One of the most representative potters of post-war Japan, SUZUKI Osamu (1926－2001) was born in the Gojo-zaka district of Kyoto, as the third son of the pottery wheel worker SUZUKI Ugenji, who worked for the Eiraku-kobo atelier, one of the ten craftsmen families for the House of Sen.

NEW YORK, NY.- Joan B. Mirviss Ltd presents the exhibition Out of the Fire: Sultry Ceramics, featuring 20 renowned Japanese artists representing the major traditions of Japanese wood-fired ceramics: Bizen, Hagi, Iga, Karatsu, Mino, Shigaraki, Tamba and Tokoname. In modern times, as electric and gas kilns have largely replaced wood-burning kilns, these artworks, born of the heat generated by wood-fired kilns, are especially seductive and stunning. It is the very nature of a wood-burning kiln to be essentially unpredictable. Maintaining the high temperature required to fire ceramics necessitates consistent feeding of the fire over an extended period of time; and the interior temperature and conditions vary depending on the location inside the kiln. Not only does this make the process of wood firing more time-consuming, but it also requires knowledge of the intricacies of each personally built anagama (single-chambered sloped tunnel) or noborigama (multi-chambered climbing) kiln. Placement within a kiln has a tremendous impact on its surface.

The Feinberg Collection has briefly returned to Japan, where it is on display at the Edo Tokyo Museum. 

The work of seven of Japan’s finest mod- ern ceramists was on artful display here. Tea bowls, plates, and sculptural objects were nestled in quiet nooks or perched on hand-hewn wooden pedestals. This lovely show focused on pieces from the mid-20th century by craftsmen who are not well known outside of Japan.

A look at Ajiki Hiro's first US solo exhibition

 

NEW YORK CITY - Joan B. Mirviss Ltd will present its first exhibition focused exclusively on the ceramic art of the Japanese tea ceremony, with more than 40 recent works by teabowl artist Ajiki Hiro. The exhibition will be on view May 3 - June 28.

Asia Week New York Art Shows Take Over Upper East Side.
 

Read 1stdibs.com  profile of Asia Week participant Joan B. Mirviss Ltd.

This year the gallery is concentrating on a coterie of modern masters: Arakawa Toyozo, Ishiguro Munemaro, Kamoda Shoji, Kawakita Handeishi, Kitaoji Rosanjin, Okabe Mineo and Yagi Kazuo. 

Japanese folding screens, delicate but durable, enshrine centuries of painting tradition.

We are mentioned in the article "Pan-Asian Fusion," which focuses on great galleries to visit for Asia Week 2013.

We are deeply saddened to announce that on August 13th, 2012 the world lost the tremendously talented and delightful Katō Yasukage (1964-2012). The fourteenth in his familial line of Mino ceramists, dating back to the Momoyama era, Yasukage was among the most gifted. He was killed in a car crash while driving in a rainstorm on a twisting mountain road in Nagano and is survived by three beautiful, very young daughters, his wife, mother and sister.

 

By HOLLAND COTTER
Published: September 27, 2012

Have any artists ever, anywhere, caught the hello-ness of spring and the farewell-ness of autumn more sweetly and sharply than the Rimpa painters of Japan? Two shimmering fall exhibitions, one at Japan Society and the other at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, argue persuasively that no, no artists ever have.

Earth & Alchemy opens at MassArt's Stephen D. Paine Gallery on Monday, September 24th. Gallery doors open for viewing at noon. At 6pm there will be a public reception.

12 Septmber to 19 October
The works of Nakamura Takuo, born in 1945, are the sole subject of this exhibition which is timed to coincide with the exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Japan Society. The ceramics will include freestanding sculptural and functional vessels that incorporate the uniquely Japanese painting aesthetic known as Rimpa, sometimes spelled these days as Rinpa. Because of his strength of form, copacetic decoration and excellence of execution, Nakamura's work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa.

This autumn marks the thirty-fifth year Joan B Mirviss LTD has been a leader in the field of Japanese fine art. In celebration of this momentous occasion, we are pleased to present the first of several remarkable exhibitions.

The tea ceremony is a prominent feature of life in Kanazawa. Many citizens are involved with the traditions of tea on a daily basis, and ceremonies are held regularly throughout the city. Kutani-ware ceramicist Takuo Nakamura, a leader in the Kanazwa crafts world whose work exudes a highly original, fully modern aesthetic, agreed to host a tea ceremony for us in the contemporary style for which he is known.

Until recently, Japanese ceramic art has been a male-dominate field, with women forbidden even to touch a kiln.

My first impression of Kayoko’s ceramics was that of a double take. At a first glance, the simple ceramics look like carved rocks but how could they be if the label is calling them ceramics? Then on closer inspection one quickly adjusts the eye with the rational to appreciate beautiful contemporary ceramics made by a gifted artist.

NEW YORK, NY.- This exhibition titled The French Connection: Five Japanese Women Ceramists and their Passion for France, explores the dramatically increasing importance of Japanese women artists in the current ascendency of contemporary Japanese ceramics on a global stage and focuses on how their relationships to France have influenced, and indeed enabled, the five show-cased artists to find their unique voices. Stifled at one time or another by Japan’s restrictive view in the role of women and the lack of freedom with regard to their career choices, especially in the arena of ceramics, these committed female artists have successfully overturned such limitations by choosing to train/study/work/live abroad, particularly in Paris. Maintaining professional and personal contacts with both countries, they have managed to succeed in ways unavailable to their male colleagues.

By Nami Hoppin
An exhibition at the Joan Mirviss Gallery in New York explores the dramatically increasing importance of Japanese women artists on
the global stage.

New York City - "The French Connection: Five Japanese Women Ceramists and Their Passion for France" is at Joan B. Mirviss Ltd through August 3. An exhibition of incredible sculptures by Futamura Yoshimi, Katsumata Chieko, Nagasawa Setsuko, Ogawa Machiko and Sakurai Yasuko seeks to expose the very nature of clay, exploiting its flexibility and suppleness in arresting ways.

Now on view at Joan Mirviss Gallery are "The French Connection: Five Japanese Women Ceramicists and a Passion for France" and "Guided by the Brush". The exhibits present the work of five leading female ceramic artists and the work of a 99 year-old calligrapher and painter whose worldwide successes stand out in their male-dominated fields. The show runs through August 3rd at the Upper East Side Gallery.

For centuries, women in Japan were not even permitted to touch a kiln, lest their "impurity" taint whatever was baking. Yet in the past decade, women clay artists have come to outnumber men in Japan's art schools, and the next generation of master ceramists is shaping up to be disproportionately female.

Ceramics and calligraphy—considered Japan’s most significant art mediums—traditionally have been male-dominated art forms, and only recently have women been allowed to pursue these areas of study and apprenticeship. A new exhibit in New York will celebrate the work of five Japanese female ceramists and the country’s leading female calligrapher, who is 99 years old. Their work is being presented from June 5 through August 3 at the Joan B. Mirviss gallery in exhibits entitled 'The French Connection: Five Japanese Women Ceramists and a Passion for France' and 'Guided by the Brush.' "

" Ceramics and calligraphy—considered Japan’s most significant art mediums—traditionally have been male-dominated art forms, and only recently have women been allowed to pursue these areas of study and apprenticeship. A new exhibit in New York will celebrate the work of five Japanese female ceramists and the country’s leading female calligrapher, who is 99 years old. Their work is being presented from June 5 through August 3 at the Joan B. Mirviss gallery in exhibits entitled 'The French Connection: Five Japanese Women Ceramists and a Passion for France' and 'Guided by the Brush.' "

Guided by the Brush: Paintings and Lithographs by SHINODA Toko and The French Connection: Five Japanese Women Ceramists and their Passion for France.

"Unfamiliar landscape prints by familiar names – mainly Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige – dominate this lavish show, and their superb condition has kept the colors strikingly vivid. The grandly descriptive can turn grandly abstract on a dime, especially when Hokusai tackles waterfalls in vertical formats. Also noteworthy are the prints of his lesser-known cotemporary Keisai Eisen, whose inclination to give tumbling water the solidity of nearby rocks has a bracing visionary force."
- R. Smith

"The overall exuberance and acquisitive atmosphere were reminiscent of Asia Weeks of the late 1990s," said Joan Mirviss, who reported that the response from collectors and enthusiasts to her exhibition "Approaching the Horizon: Important Japanese Prints from the Collection of Brewster Hanson" was exhilarating. "By the close of Asia Week's open-house weekend, we had sold nearly 60% of the exhibition (which included sixty-eight prints). In terms of attendance and participation, this year's Asia Week was tremendous and far exceeded those in recent memory."

 

New York City - In Conjunction with Asia Week New York, Joan B. Mirviss Ltd is presenting "Approaching the Horizon: Important Japanese Prints from the Collection of Brewster Hanson," an exhibition of particularly fine impressions of some of the most coveted designs of Hiroshige, including masterworks by Hokusai, Eisen and Yoshitoshi.

excerpt:
"At the Joan B. Mirviss gallery on the Upper East Side, the dealer is selling the collection of Brewster Hanson, a lifelong fan of Japanese art, who died in 2008. At the time Hanson was collecting prints, his tastes were supposedly more Japanese than European, meaning he obtained many rare, top-quality prints without competition, according to Mirviss. However, the pendulum has swung, it seems. Before the show even opened Mirviss reported that half of the catalogue had been sold, mostly the more expensive (and more rare) prints."

New York never lacks for art, but as spring approaches, movable feasts of it seem to arrive in waves. Last week nearly a dozen fairs put exra servings of contemporary and Modern art on the table. Friday is the official beginning of Asia Week, a visual repast of more than 40 shows staged by New York and out-of-town dealers and spread mostly through galleries around the Upper East Side, on or just off Madison Avenue.

A touring exhibition including our artists: Fukumoto Fuku, Fujino Sachiko, Katsumata Chieko, Kishi Eiko, Kitamura Junko, Koike Shoko, Mishima Kimiyo, Sakurai Yasuko, Shimizu Sachiko and Tashima Etsuko.

Learn about collecting from this leading dealer who will provide perspective on the history of collecting Japanese prints in the United States and Europe from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Mirviss will also compare past and present standards of connoisseurship and offer guidelines for today’s collectors.

 

NEW YORK, N.Y.- For the first time since Joan B. Mirviss Ltd. began representing Japanese ceramics in the mid '80s, Western artists will be presented together with their Japanese counterparts in this intimate exhibit entitled Conversations in Clay – West Meets East: A Collector's Perspective. The show, curated by Steven Korff in collaboration with Joan Mirviss, finds its inspiration in Korff's integrated collection of ceramic art that includes important artists from both backgrounds, from Hamada Shōji to Hans Coper, Carlo Zauli to Akiyama Yō.

"Joan B. Mirviss Ltd is presenting "Fired by Tradition: Masterworks by Nishihata Tadashi" through July 29, featuring a completely fresh body of work by this Tanba master. Based in the riverside town of Tachikui in Hyogo Prefecture, home to the medieval ceramic center of Tanba, Tadashi (b 1948) works in the centuries-old traditions of his ancestors. As one of the six ancient kilns of Japan, Tanba has long been celebrated for its simple storage jars, vases and sake implements made from the local iron-rich clay and fired either unglazed or with natural and applied ash glazes.

This beautifully curated show, subtitled "Pioneers of Japan's Sodeisha Ceramic Movement," celebrated the work of three artists who were the guiding lights of Japan's avant-garde ceramists. Yagi Kazuô (1918-79), Suzuki Osamu (1926-2001) and Yamada Hikaru (1923-2001) were founders of Sôdeisha ("Crawling Through the Mud Association"), a pottery collective formed in Kyoto in 1948. Until then, the country's venerable ceramics traditions focused on tea bowls, jars, and other utilitarian objects.

The 14th annual Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair at the Park Avenue Armory enjoyed steady crowds and sales, from the well-attended vernissage on April 13 straight through its four-day run, which ended on Sunday, April 17. An estimated 2000 persons attended Opening Night throughout the course of the evening, and an after-preview benefit dinner in the Armory's Tiffany Room for the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) honoring Judy Cornfield was a sell-out. MAD also sponsored the new MAD Den Video Lounge designed by NY architect/designer David Ling, adding yet another media to the stimulating mix of art and design at the fair.

One newer area of collection development is contemporary Japanese ceramics, an art form that complements our significant and well-respected Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints. Japan has a centuries-old ceramics tradition, renowned for both beauty and innovation, and potters there continue to produce some of the most striking and influential pottery in the world. Joan Mirviss, an alumna of the UW-Madison's Department of Art History, is an expert and dealer in Japanese art; one of her specialties is contemporary ceramics.

Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd, will present a major solo show of internationally acclaimed artist Akiyama Yo (b 1953) who lives, works and teaches in Kyoto, Japan. This exhibition, on view April 18-May 20, will be Japan's highly acclaimed artist's second in the United States.

"Tension and Transition" includes more than ten sculptural clay works created for this presentation. Though using a basic stoneware clay, Akiyama's aesthetic pushes past any traditional concepts for ceramics; his art has much more in common with the work of contemporary sculptors like Richard Serra than the utilitarian ceramics for which Kyoto is historically known.

Collectors, curators, scholars, and Asian art enthusiasts from around the world convened for Asia Week New York 2011 in March—nine days of exhibitions, private sales, public auctions, special events, and fund-raising, spending more than $250 million on Asian art. Complementing Asian exhibitions at 18 New York-area museums and cultural institutions were thousands of ancient through contemporary Asian works of art at 5 leading auction houses and at the venues of 34 Asian art specialists exhibiting in New York. Dealers from the U.S. and abroad reported double and triple the attendance over last year with strong sales to collectors and institutions based in the United States, Europe, Hong Kong, and mainland China with many works on reserve by museums.

 

In the hours following the March 11 earthquake in northeast Japan, the New York-based nonprofit Japan Society launched an earthquake relief fund. Since then, donations to the fund have come in bit by bit from all corners of the city.

 

It's hard to think about art in the face of nightmarish human tragedy. As Japan attempts to get back on its feet after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, news on the nation's contemporary structures and historic sites trickles in. Eiji Mizushima of the Japan committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) has sent out e-mail updates as information becomes available.

Since its opening on March 16 for Asia Week New York 2011, "Birds of Dawn: Pioneers of Japan's Sōdeisha Ceramic Movement," the exhibition currently on view at Joan B. Mirviss Ltd. at 39 East 78th Street, has been attracting tremendous attention from collectors, curators, the media and the public-at-large. The show focuses on the three seminal founders of the extremely influential Sōdeisha ceramic movement: Yagi Kazuo (1918-79), Suzuki Osamu (1926-2001), and Yamada Hikaru (1923-2001).

ASIA has been even more in the forefront of the public conversation since the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and continuing nuclear radiation fallout. The conversation reaches near fever pitch on an upbeat note as New York hosts two important Asian-themed art bazaars. Both have added "Help Japan" components. The rechristened Asia Week New York continues through Saturday (26 March), while Asian Contemporary Art Week commences at 7 tonight at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) with the film series, “Modern Mondays: An Evening with Mariam Ghani.”

Acting in an unprecedented collaboration, more than 30 prominent Asian art specialists, 5 auction houses and 18 museums and Asian cultural institutions in the metropolitan New York City area will join forces to present Asia Week New York 2011, taking place from March 18-26.

Not so long ago Manhattan’s annual spring Asia Week was feeling diminished. The Asian Art Fair had folded. Gallery shows were scattered around town. Collective energy was low. Not so long ago Manhattan’s annual spring Asia Week was feeling diminished. The Asian Art Fair had folded. Gallery shows were scattered around town. Collective energy was low.

More than 60 works from Japan’s Sôdeisha Ceramic Movement will be on display at New York’s Joan B. Mirviss Ltd art gallery on East 78th Street from March 16 through April 29 to coincide with Asia Week New York 2011. The exhibition, titled Birds of Dawn, showcases the unique work of artists Yagi Kazuo, Suzuki Osamu, and Yamada Hikaru.

While Japan struggles to recover from the devastating effects of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, artists and arts organizations around the world are coming together in a show of support for the island nation. Japan-related events in New York as part of this month's Asia Week are being recast as tributes or fundraisers for earthquake victims, while artists in various countries are coming up with creative ways to respond to the disaster and raise needed funds for the victims and their families.

New York Asia Week, launched by the auction houses in the early 1990s, presumes that people who are interested in Tibetan sculpture might somehow also be interested in Malaysian batik and Chinese contemporary. Twenty years on, this fiction is stronger than ever, perhaps because it's fun, the idea of looking at art made during the past three millennia on the world's largest and most populous continent.

Over ten years in the making, Joan Mirviss Ltd presents “Birds of Dawn: Pioneers of Japan’s Sōdeisha Ceramic Movement,” which opens on March 16, 2011, at 39 East 78th Street in New York. This exhibition, which coincides with Asia Week New York, will focus on three seminal founders of this extremely influential movement: Yagi Kazuo (1918-79), Suzuki Osamu (1926-2001), and Yamada Hikaru (1923-2001). More than sixty works by this Kyoto triumvirate will be on view and offered for sale.

Asia Week gets off to an auspicious start March 18 with an elegant reception at the Asia Society. Then, over the course of nine days, 34 Asian art dealers—along with the Asia Society, Japan Society, Rubin Museum, China Institute and the auction houses Bonham’s, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Doyle New York and iGavel—will present exhibitions, lectures, discussions, sales, concerts, films and a gala benefit reception and dinner, with everything open to the public. The range is astonishing.

Over ten years in the making, Joan Mirviss Ltd presents “Birds of Dawn: Pioneers of Japan’s Sōdeisha Ceramic Movement,” which opens on March 16, 2011, at 39 East 78th Street in New York. This exhibition, which coincides with Asia Week New York, will focus on three seminal founders of this extremely influential movement: Yagi Kazuo (1918-79), Suzuki Osamu (1926-2001), and Yamada Hikaru (1923-2001). More than sixty works by this Kyoto triumvirate will be on view and offered for sale.

 

The long history of the Kondō clan has the elements of a grand saga - a samurai's defense of the imperial court, the subsequent gift of a central piece of Kyoto real estate, and an eventual fall from grace - but, just as significantly, the family's story over the last century mirrors the evolution of the great artistic tradition of Japanese ceramics.

Continuing with her ongoing effort to present cutting-edge contemporary Japanese ceramics, this fall and winter Joan B. Mirviss Ltd will present three consecutive exhibitions illuminating the world of postwar contemporary ceramics in Japan.

"These three exhibitions represent over ten years of planning with careful negotiations and coordination with multiple Japanese sources. For a dealer anywhere to have one or possibly two works by any of these artists is rare enough, but to present such a large body of exceptionally rare material by these artists outside a museum is unprecedented," said Mirviss.

Joan B. Mirviss will present three consecutive exhibitions illuminating the world of post-war contemporary ceramics in Japan. This first show of over 40 works of art, focuses on the work of Kondō Yutaka (1932-83), a remarkable artist and gifted teacher who inspired many of today's established clay artists in Japan, who was the pivotal figure in his ceramic family before his untimely death. Drawn from the family's collection and offered for the first time, fourteen of his works will be seen in the context of his highly unusual heritage, both as a member of a Kyoto samurai family and as the son of the celebrated ceramist and designated Living National Treasure for cobalt blue-and-white (sometsuke) porcelain, KondōYūzo (1902-85).

Japanese porcelain with good provenance offer prime area for collectors, while the market for contemporary Japanese ceramics is heating up.

The tension between the old and the new can also be seen in the conceptual ceramic art of Japanese artist, Akiyama Yō, represented by Manhattan's Joan B Mirviss, Ltd., a long-time SOFA exhibitor in New York, but new to SOFA WEST. Widely considered to be one of the greatest ceramic artists living today, Akiyama was a member of the extremely influential Kyoto avant-garde group Sodeisha, which eschewed traditional Japanese ceramic functionalism in favor of modernist sculpture and contemporary abstraction. Mirviss says, "Akiyama's work is created with the theme of disintegration in nature and how life returns to clay.

After the tremendous upsurge in interest in contemporary art in 2006-2008, and the market doldrums of 2009, this year’s Asia Week has repositioned itself and was jointly organized by the Asia Society and the Asian Art Dealers of New York (AADNY).
AADNY hosted a reception at the Rubin Museum of Art on March 19, heralding the
official start of Asian Art Week.

Museum of East Asian Art (Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst)
Universitätsstraße 100, D-50674,
Cologne, Germany
Oct 31, 2009 To Jan 10, 2010

It is with a heavy heart that we note that ceramic artist Tokuda Yasokichi III, designated a National Living Treasure (NLT) in 1997, succumbed to pneumonia on August 26th at the age of 75.

 

Over the last several years there has been an increasing number of dealers who have chosen to abandon the International Asian Art Fair and to exhibit independently in several locations in New York, principally on the Upper East Side. This year, with the International's cancellation, leaving those exhibitors without a venue, and the relocation of the Arts of Pacific Asia Show to new quarters on West 34th Street, a certain level of reorganisation was needed, a situation compounded by the existing economic uncertainty.

Surimono: Poetic Allusion in Japanese Prints
Museum Rietberg Zürich

The market for Japanese art and antiques seems to be thriving in Manhattan. Although there are only a handful of serious specialized dealers (private and public), most do well selling a mixture of antique screens, paintings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, lacquerware, metalwork, and textiles, Last year Joan B. Mirviss saw her business growing so quickly, after adding contemporary ceramics, that she moved to a new gallery at 39 East 78th Street.

 

It is with tremendous sadness that we note the tragic, unexpected death on September 7, 2008 of our beloved artist, Wada Morihiro, at age 63.

This exhibition will mark Joan Mirviss' first anniversary in her Madison Avenue gallery. Kaneta Masanao, born in 1953, is an 8th generation potter at Hagi, one of the greatest of the traditional Japanese kilns. The old Japanese adage is Raku first, Hagi second, Karatsu third. Like the pottery tradition at Satsuma, the Hagi tradition began with potters brought from Korea after Hideyoshi's invasion of that country and, like the early Satsuma wares and others, the Korean potters at Hagi produced wares for the Tea Ceremony. 

Japanese ukiyo-e prints are certainly hogging the limelight this month, what with the exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum and the Asia Society and the Exhibition of very early prints and books at Sebastian Izzard Asian Art, this subject-specific exhibition at Joan B. Mirviss Ltd guarantees that the field of ukiyo-e, in all of its shades, will be properly covered and available to be seen.

 

Asia Week in New York is neatly topped and tailed this year. Launching the events is the International Asian Art Fair, which moves both dates and venue to show from 15 to 19 March at the newly refurbished 583 Park Avenue, a handsome red-brick Georgian-style landmark building two blocks south of the fair's previous home in the Armory. Lingering on beyond the saleroom auctions is a glorious array of dealer shows, which now contribute so much to the diversity and quality of Asian art, old and new, in the city.

 

For many years, Joan has been known as a private dealer with respected expertise in Japanese screens, paintings, wood prints and contemporary and modern ceramics. In her new gallery, opened this year to accommodate requirements for established and new collectors, she has organized this exhibition as a subject-specific show of not just contemporary ceramics, but works by today's leading women ceramic artists.

No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone." So wrote T.S. Eliot in his classic essay, "Tradition and the Individual Talent." Eliot claimed that rather than existing in conflict with tradition, an individual artist gains significance only through strenuous engagement with it. Not surprisingly, Eliot's views remain controversial, but his belief seems strikingly relevant to the extraordinary show of Japanese contemporary ceramics recently on exhibit at New York's Japan Society.

Ever since the 19th-century English designer Christopher Dresser picked up a deliberately rough Japanese tea bowl and wrote in ecstasy about the beauty of its texture compared with the sleek industrial finish of Western ceramics, there has been some understanding in the West of Japanese ceramics. This is growing now, fueled in part by the strong market for sculptural ceramics ("craft" is a word best avoided) in the US and Europe.

Joan B. Mirviss calls herself a contrarian. So perhaps it is not surprising that she has just opened a gallery in Manhattan, even as rising rents increasingly cause antiques dealers to close their shops and sell privately. For the last 30 years, Ms. Mirviss has been a pioneering dealer in Japanese fine art and antiques. She has also been the curator of several museum exhibitions on Japanese art, including one in 1995 at the Phoenix Art Museum showing Frank Lloyd Wright's collection of surimono, privately published woodblock prints.

Ancient Japanese screens, woodblock prints, scrolls, bronzes and contemporary ceramics by leading contemporary artists are on view in the exhibit "Views from the Past, Visions of the Future: Masterworks of Japanese Art." The show marks the inaugural exhibition at the newly opened Joan B. Mirviss Gallery.

The owner of a gallery selling Japanese art that is opening in two weeks on 78th Street at Madison Avenue is backing into her new project. Joan Mirviss, a private dealer of Japanese fine art in America, Japan, and Europe will be turning her art dealing business, Joan B. Mirviss Ltd., into a gallery. "I'm doing everything backwards, as I always have done," the Japanese specialist of 30 years said. "this is a new challenge."

Until now, Ms. Mirviss and her staff, three women all with museum experience, worked out of an apartment overlooking Central Park. There has built up a distinguished international clientele largely through exhibitions in other galleries around the country and at major fairs. these clients include some 50 of the world's top museums.

On 17 September, Joan B. Mirviss, a well-known private dealer in Japanese art, is opening a gallery at 39 East 78th Street in New York. The inaugural exhibition of around 55 works, 'Views from the Past, Visions of the Future: Masterworks of Japanese Art,' will be on view until 15 October. Displayed will be screens and paintings, many from old Japanese private collections, as well as woodblock prints and a range of ceramics, both from the second half of the 20th century and contemporary works created specifically for the show. On behalf of Orientations, Margaret Tao interviewed Mirviss about the Japanese art field and her new gallery.

To prepare the space for her first-ever gallery, opening this month on New York's Madison Avenue, Japanese art specialist Joan Mirviss had it blessed by a Buddhist monk.

Antiques dealer Joan B. Mirviss has been intrigued by Japanese art since her youth. "As a typical American child of the 1950s and 60s, I didn't have the opportunity to travel to Asia or Europe. However, I always had a fascination with things Japanese." As a university student in 1973, she studied ceramics in Japan and visited famous production centers such as Mashiko. While Japan is crowded with crafts from lacquer to textiles and dolls, it was ceramics that won her heart.