Wes Rolley on tue 13 apr 04
Last Saturday, I filled my RV (65 gal. tank and $2.039 unleaded gas) and
headed to LA. Easter Sunday morning was spent viewing the exhibit, Isamu
Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics at the Japanese American National Museum.
http://www.janm.org/ It was well worth the trip.
One of the stated objectives of the exhibit was to "illuminate the
overlooked zone of interaction between conceptions of art and craft by
focusing on the works of ceramic artists who believed themselves centrally
engaged with modernism, surrealism , and other issues of concern to an
international art world." And they succeeded admirably in reaching this
objective. Besides the sculptural work of Noguchi, the exhibit also
presents works by such masters as Kitaoji Rosanjin, Kaneshige Toyo, Kawai
Kanjiro, Arakawa Toyozo and lesser know (in America) members of the
Sodeisha group.
For those who will not be able to see the exhibit in LA, there is a very
good introduction to the content on the Simthsonian site at
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online.htm. Under Japanese art, click
on the exhibit name. For more indepth understanding, you can also visit the
Alfred University Museum Site.
http://ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu/perkins_lect_series/cort/corttalk.html
In particular, I find the jar by Kawai shown here to be an good example of
the fact that even an artists so closely associated with Hamada, Leach and
the Mingei movement would, at the same time, be exploring other things in
his works. For any who have had the good fortune to visit the Kawai
Kanjiro museum at his home / shop, the works he carved in wood late in his
life give another glimpse into the wide range of this artist.
The exhibit is in LA only until the end of May and should not be missed.
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