The Business of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics
Published: THE ASIAN ART NEWSPAPER
While unimaginable for a Western potter, a prominent Japanese ceramic artist can attain celebrity status nearly equivalent to that of a movie actor. Frequently, merely mentioning the name of a potter to a taxi driver is sufficient to get a visitor to the studio of a local talent. Today, prices for works by these superstars can soar to the high five figures. However, attaining such a pinnacle of fame and fortune is by no means simple.
Many, particularly eldest sons, begin their ceramic education at a young age at the knee of their parent, as the latest in a long line of potters working in a particular tradition. An aspiring Japanese ceramist has many more choices of where to train and learn his art than his Western counterpart. Throughout Japan there are numerous state-of-the-art facilities and programs at universities and ceramic institutes. Competition for admission to the best programs is fierce. Between studies and apprenticeships, a potter can spend ten years before setting up on his own.
In order to gain recognition, young and even mature ceramists must win prizes at juried shows. These competitions are typically sponsored and promoted by the newspapers, which also publish the accompanying catalogue. The major group exhibitions travel to various cities around Japan, creating a nationally visible platform for a participating artist. Acceptance into such competitions is highly political. To get ahead, it is essential for a young potter to have his work selected for large official shows and to affiliate with one of the major associations, such as the traditional Japan Craft Society, Nitten, or the more avant-garde Sôdeisha. However, there have been a few exceptional, independent artists who have succeeded without such an affiliation.
There is, in addition, an extensive solo exhibition system throughout Japan that revolves around the art galleries in the department stores. The more important the artist, the better the calendar slot for the one-person show and the more prestigious the venue. The ideal locations are the large galleries in the main Tokyo department stores. Given the great number of department stores throughout Japan and the fact that these displays usually last less than a week, there are many hundreds of shows every year. This proliferation of exhibitions has diluted the overall quality.
Among those who successfully negotiate the most prestigious competitions and department store exhibitions, a charmed few receive the official designation of “Living National Treasure,” a guarantee of a certain financial stability. Also highly political, requiring years of working the established system of self-promotion and important patronage, this appointment confers instant fame to its elderly recipients. The title also brings with it a significant escalation in the price structure of the artist’s work, especially his new pieces.
Spoiled in the bubble-years of the late 1980s, department stores were offering shows to newly independent potters and pricing their work at unjustifiably high levels. Shows of many established ceramic artists would often sell out within an hour of opening with pieces often priced in the $10-20,000 range. With the downturn in the Japanese economy, this trend has abated. Much of the work by new and emerging potters promoted by the department stores is technically fine but pedestrian and uninspired. These days, this type of material largely goes unsold. The market is now more cautious and critical, and prices closer to reality. Another result of this market change has been a diminution in the power of the Tokyo stores in favor of major regional branches.
On the other hand, many of the commercial galleries devoted to contemporary ceramics have a far better track record, having maintained higher aesthetic standards and avoided, to some degree, price inflation. With their long-term perspective, greater knowledge, devoted and knowledgeable followings, they have tried to hold the line. Over the past ten years, many of the most innovative and exciting solo exhibitions have been under their auspices.
In the case of modern deceased potters, prices reached extraordinary heights in the late 80s. Perhaps the acme of that fever was the sale of a beautiful but slightly cracked bowl by the famous and incredibly versatile artist Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883-1959), who, incidentally, turned down the “Living National Treasure” designation. Even without its signed wooden storage box, something coveted by savvy collectors and usually crucial to establishing a top value, the rimpa-style bowl brought $187,000 in a 1989 Christie’s New York sale. At auction today, that piece might well bring only half of that sum.
With a far more stable and discriminating market, the contemporary Japanese ceramic scene is now poised for an upswing. Many fine potters continue to produce modern interpretations of traditional functional forms and with age-old glazes, but there is also a growing acceptance of non-functional sculptural work and a following for material neither traditional in form nor glaze. The depth and range of modern Japanese ceramic art have never been richer.