Kawai Kanjirō 河井 寛次郎 1890-1966

Born in Yasugi, Japan

KAWAI KANJIRŌ was a Kyoto-based potter working within the folk traditions of Japanese and Korean ceramics. He was a long-time friend of Hamada Shōji, Yanagi Soetsu, and Bernard Leach, with whom he co-founded the Japan Folk Art Association in 1926. While in Japan Kawai is just as celebrated as Hamada and Kitaōji Rosanjin, he is relatively overlooked in the West. Unlike his rivals, Kawai refused all official honors, such as the designation of "Living National Treasure," and he did not travel to the West.

By the mid-1930s, he developed a slab-building technique for beveled bowls and tiered boxes before arriving at the multifaceted and sculptural vessels of his later career. His bold, semi-abstract floral decoration flows freely in under-glaze cobalt blue, iron brown, and copper red, frequently outlined in patterns of trailing slip (tsutsugaki). Through decades of research, in part working with Tomimoto, Kawai amassed a profound understanding of Chinese glazes and by the 1960s had further differentiated his decorative style, often employing splashes of bright color.  The forms of his later pieces became multifaceted and more sculptural. His slab-molded covered boxes as well as vases are especially admired among Japanese cognoscenti.