Shoji Hamada
(Japanese, Tokyo 1894–1978)
Square Dish
c. 1970
stoneware with trailed glaze decoration, 2 1/4" x 11" x 11"
Gift of Glenn C. Nelson
Shoji Hamada is thought to be one of the greatest
Japanese folk art (mingei) ceramists of the 20th century, and in 1955,
he was one of a very few artists designated a living “national
treasure.” Most often in the form of modest bowls, platters and
containers, his functional pottery combined the simple forms of traditional
Japanese, Korean and Chinese ceramics with expressively brushed surface
decoration. Along with several other examples of the artist’s
work, Square Dish (ca. 1970), was collected in Japan by the well-known
American ceramist (and founder of the ceramic program at the University
of Minnesota Duluth) Glenn C. Nelson, who donated the bulk of his collection
to the Tweed Museum of Art in 1991.
Formed by hand in a shallow mold, the square is repeated as a decorative
motif in the center of the dish and on its corners. A contrasting element
of two botanical images within pale yellow semi-circular shapes appears
in the central bottom section of the dish. Born in Tokyo in 1894, Hamada
first aspired to follow in the footsteps of his father, who had studied
to become a painter. At the age of fifteen Hamada happened upon a quote
by the French post-Impressionist painter Renoir, which inspired him
to dedicate his artistic ambitions to the study and creation of useful
objects: “If half the would-be painters in France were transformed
into craftsmen, it would benefit both painting and the crafts; the
number of painters would be decreased, and the decorative arts would
get able people.”
Hamada embarked on an intense education in the art and craft of ceramics,
with formal training at the Tokyo Technical College, Hakuba Institute
and Kyoto Ceramic Testing Institute. In 1918, Hamada met the British
artist and ceramic enthusiast Bernard Leach, who introduced him to
Soetsu Yanagi, founder of the Japanese folkcraft movement. Hamada’s
meeting with Leach and Yanagi, and his subsequent travels to folk art
centers throughout Japan, China and Korea, inspired in him a love for
folk art pottery. Along with Soetsu Yanagi and his former classmate
Kanjiro Kawai, Hamada helped to organize the first museum devoted to
Japanese folkcrafts. In combination with his formal training in glazes,
kiln construction and technique, Hamada’s self-directed study
of rural potteries laid the groundwork for his unique contribution
to contemporary ceramics. Beginning in 1920, Hamada began traveling
to the west to study and demonstrate, and soon his influence extended
worldwide, eventually effecting the evolution of the ceramic arts in
post-WWII America. |
