Murata Gen 村田 元 Japanese, 1904-1988

Preview the art historian & curator Daniel McOwan's essay on our Autumn 2022 exhibition catalog. "Tsubo: The Art of Contemporary Craft" gives an overview of the history of the jar category in Modern Japanese ceramics, while also exploring significant potters, artists, and figures who have propelled this formal category in the 20th and 21st centuries. Read the full essay on our Autumn 2022 catalogue online!

The Art Gallery of South Australia is currently hosting the exhibition Pure form: Japanese sculptural ceramics. This exhibition presents the rich diversity of sculptural ceramics created in Japan from the late 1940s to the present on loan from public and private collections across Australia. The first exhibition of its kind in Australia to present the compelling story of daring innovation through a kaleidoscopic array of stoneware and porcelain created from the post-war years, Pure form includes over 100 works of art by sixty-five Japanese ceramicists all of which are illustrated in the catalogue.

How does the Japanese craftsman and artist Murata Gen fit into the Mingei movement, philosophy, and aesthetic? In the 1950's Yanagi, Hamada and Kawai Kanjiro launched the Mingei movement where they were inspired by anonymous craftsmen. Yanagi validated Mashiko as a typical example of folk craft that embodies ‘innate Japaneseness’. From his experiences researching Western philosophical tenets and blending it with Japanese aesthetic philosophies, Yanagi constructed a “criterion of beauty” in Mingei, which included “the beauty of selflessness and anonymity.”

We are delighted to announce that the important collector of Japanese ceramics, and our friend Mr. Jeffrey Montgomery will be exhibiting his collection of over 250 Japanese folk crafts in ceramic, wood, fabric, and lacquer mediums. The upcoming exhibition in the Museo Delle Culture in Lugano will showcase pieces that have passed through Dai Ichi Arts in recent years.