Bernard Leach - The Making of a Master - Part 1 - Japan
How did an English artist in Japan become one of the most influential figures in modern ceramics?
In the first of our three-part series on Bernard Leach, we explore the extraordinary early years that shaped his life and work. From his return to Japan and his first encounters with pottery to his friendship with Shōji Hamada, we discover how Japanese culture transformed Leach's understanding of what a pot could be.
This is the story of the meeting of East and West — and how the ideas Leach discovered in Japan would eventually help change the course of modern ceramics.
Featured Artworks: Bernard Leach and bookcase, Tokyo, 1917-1919
Bernard Leach, A Potters Book, 1940
Bernard Leach with grandparents in Japan, c. 1890
Frank Brangwyn, by Reinhold Thiele, c 1900
John Ruskin, by W. & D. Downey, 1863
William Morris by Frederick Hollyer, 1887
Leaping Salmon Vase, c.1950, Bernard Leach; Okinawa Style Teabowl, c.1970, Shōji Hamada, Oxford Ceramics Gallery
Harmony in Blue and Gold, The Peacock Room, by James McNeill Whistler, 1834-1903, Public Domain
Temple of Heaven, Peking, 1916, printed signature in the plate Bernard Leach 1916, Public Domain
Photograph of rural Japan, C.1900, Public Domain
Early Raku Vase, Bernard Leach, c.1925
Raku Firing Kiln
Portrait of Ogata Kenzan VI, by Bernard Leach, 1924
Mokko-shaped Food Bowl, by Uruno Shigekichi, 1881-1923
Cup, Ogata Kenzan, 18th Century
Photo of Shõji Hamada, 1894-1978
Photo of Sõetsu Yanagi, 1889-1961
Photo of Bernard Leach with Shõji Hamada & Sõetsu Yanagi, Dartington 1952
Cup and Signed Box, Shõji Hamada
Large Dish, Shõji Hamada
Stoneware Bottle, Shoji Hamada
Hamanda’s Kiln in Moshiko, Creative Commons License, CC3.0
Unknown Craftsman, Sõetsu Yanagi , 1972
Professor Paul Greenhalgh is a specialist on the art and design of the Modern period. He has written widely on Art Nouveau and curated several exhibitions including the major survey Art Nouveau 1890-1914, which toured internationally (2000-01). His books include Ephemeral Vistas (1988), Modernism in Design (1990), Art Nouveau 1890–1914 (2000), The Modern Ideal (2005), Fair World (2011), L’Art Nouveau: La Revolution Decorative (2013), Ceramic Art and Civilisation (2021) and Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of Youth (2022). He has held positions as Head of Research at the V&A Museum, London; President and Director at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Director of the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich; and Inaugural Director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, London. He was born and raised in Bolton, and is a proud Lancastrian.
Stephanie Rozene is a ceramic artist, Professor of Art, and the Ceramics Program Coordinator at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York she has been teaching, writing and making art since 2004. At Hartwick she's been honored with the Wandersee Scholar in Residence award twice, along with the Teacher Scholar Award. Stephanie's research uses historical ornament and porcelain as a visual language to critique contemporary political rhetoric, and she also explores the history of clay as a cooking tool. Her work has been shown extensively both nationally and internationally. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and is the Vice President of the board of trustees for the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine, and was educated at NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada and the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
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