Kumakura Junkichi 熊倉順吉 1920-1985

Alongside Yagi Kazuo, the artist and potter Kumakura Junkichi was a pioneer of sculptural and avant-garde ceramics that distinguished itself as a formal category in the Japanese ceramic industry during the mid 20th century. His interest in sculptural, figurative and organic forms bleeds into his functional wares, which take on geometric and abstract shapes. 

Having been a central figure of the Sodeisha “Crawling through Mud” association. Core to his clay practice were the aesthetic tenets of Sodeisha that sought to elevate the status of the nonfunctional clay object. The beginnings of this philosophical exploration manifested in his use of 2 dimensional geometric compositions on the flat surfaces of his functional wears. During this time in the 1940s early on in his career, he used molds, a practice learned from Hamada Shoji and the folk craft movement. Later on, we can see his work took on a much bolder sculptural intent.