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Modern Japanese Ceramics in American Collections
206 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1993
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December 21, 2023
Seminal work on modern Japanese ceramics holds its value.
This catalogue accompanied a 1993/94 Japan Society exhibition in New York of 96 modern Japanese potters (later touring to New Orleans and Honolulu). The show and its English language catalogue helped bring US attention to post-War Japanese ceramics. The Kyoto-based ceramics dealer, Robert Yellin, noted that Baekeland's book was "vital" to his early reading in the field while the NY-based dealer, Joan B. Mirviss, also recently noted that it "remains an invaluable resource".
The Baekeland publication includes a series of well-researched overview essays on earlier traditions for producing and glazing ceramics in Japan and the emergence of modern ceramics. Further essays on the how Japanese pottery has been received during the 20th century in the US, UK, and Germany are informative, but obviously now somewhat dated. Similarly, for the essay on how Japanese public museums and galleries have supported their own artists.
In addition, the catalogue provides detailed biographical and artist information on the 96 potters covered by the exhibition. Each is represented by at least one work; several by two or three. All are illustrated with relatively small black-and-white plates (136 in total), though the most striking (one assumes) are reproduced also with larger color plates (66 images). Interestingly, the majority of pieces in the exhibition (about four in five) are functional pottery rather than abstract ceramics. This fraction declined markedly in exhibitions in the 2000s, when abstract sculptural ceramics from Japan often made up one half or more of the works shown.
The artist texts are by Baekeland and his secondary author, Robert Moes. The summaries are commendably frank about the occasional weaker points of some artists' production. The downside is the reliance, for some, on black-and-white photos, which do not do the pieces full justice.
Overall, a good introduction to modern Japanese ceramics, despite its vintage. A frank and informative source (with used copies now selling at around $40).
Other books on contemporary Japanese ceramics
1983, Japanese Ceramics Today: Masterworks from the Kikuchi Collection , 4*
2005, Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century, Halsey and Alice North Collection, 5*
2009, Touch Fire: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics by Women Artists, Smith College Museum of Art, 3*
2013, Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art, Stanley and Mary Ann Snider Collection, 4*
2015, Into the Fold; Contemporary Japanese Ceramics from the Horvitz Collection, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, 3*
2019, The Allure of Japanese Contemporary Ceramics , by Joan B. Mirviss, 3-4*
2022, Listening to Clay , by Alice North, Halsey North, and Louise Allison Cort, 5*
This catalogue accompanied a 1993/94 Japan Society exhibition in New York of 96 modern Japanese potters (later touring to New Orleans and Honolulu). The show and its English language catalogue helped bring US attention to post-War Japanese ceramics. The Kyoto-based ceramics dealer, Robert Yellin, noted that Baekeland's book was "vital" to his early reading in the field while the NY-based dealer, Joan B. Mirviss, also recently noted that it "remains an invaluable resource".
The Baekeland publication includes a series of well-researched overview essays on earlier traditions for producing and glazing ceramics in Japan and the emergence of modern ceramics. Further essays on the how Japanese pottery has been received during the 20th century in the US, UK, and Germany are informative, but obviously now somewhat dated. Similarly, for the essay on how Japanese public museums and galleries have supported their own artists.
In addition, the catalogue provides detailed biographical and artist information on the 96 potters covered by the exhibition. Each is represented by at least one work; several by two or three. All are illustrated with relatively small black-and-white plates (136 in total), though the most striking (one assumes) are reproduced also with larger color plates (66 images). Interestingly, the majority of pieces in the exhibition (about four in five) are functional pottery rather than abstract ceramics. This fraction declined markedly in exhibitions in the 2000s, when abstract sculptural ceramics from Japan often made up one half or more of the works shown.
The artist texts are by Baekeland and his secondary author, Robert Moes. The summaries are commendably frank about the occasional weaker points of some artists' production. The downside is the reliance, for some, on black-and-white photos, which do not do the pieces full justice.
Overall, a good introduction to modern Japanese ceramics, despite its vintage. A frank and informative source (with used copies now selling at around $40).
Other books on contemporary Japanese ceramics
1983, Japanese Ceramics Today: Masterworks from the Kikuchi Collection , 4*
2005, Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century, Halsey and Alice North Collection, 5*
2009, Touch Fire: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics by Women Artists, Smith College Museum of Art, 3*
2013, Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art, Stanley and Mary Ann Snider Collection, 4*
2015, Into the Fold; Contemporary Japanese Ceramics from the Horvitz Collection, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, 3*
2019, The Allure of Japanese Contemporary Ceramics , by Joan B. Mirviss, 3-4*
2022, Listening to Clay , by Alice North, Halsey North, and Louise Allison Cort, 5*
Displaying 1 of 1 review