10 Ceramics CLAY AS SOFT POWER


important ally in the Cold War era. In the show, this history is explored through several objects, including a Storage Jar, from the Muromachi period, late 1300s to 1400s, an important example of the earliest Shigaraki works, on loan from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Other objects in the section were included in major early museum displays and in Louise Allison Cort’s 1979 book Shigaraki:


Potters’ history, Valley, which


served as the first scholarly book on the


techniques, and


production of Shigaraki ware. Te second section, explores


cultural exchange and American ceramic artists working in postwar Shigaraki, and looks at the exchange of ideas between the US and Japan. Equally important to shifting Japan’s image was the active exchange of artists and artistic approaches. Between the 1960s and 1980s, government


agencies,


universities,


Storage jar, Muromachi period, late 14th-15th century, stoneware with natural ash glaze, Cleveland Museum of Art, John L Severance Fund, 1973


Tis is the first exhibition to examine the important role that Shigaraki ware ceramics played in supporting American-Japanese


diplomatic


relations after the Second World War. Shigaraki ware originate from one of Japan’s six ancient kilns and are characterised by earthy tones, rough clay surfaces, and natural ash glazes. Tese objects, which began entering American museum collections in the 1960s, have become staples of Japanese art installations across the US. Despite this, the story of how Shigaraki ware ceramics catalysed cultural exchange between the US and Japan and helped reframe Japan as a peaceful, democratic, ally has not been told in depth. Bringing this history to the fore, the show also explores the influence of Shigaraki ware on contemporary artists in both countries and its ongoing popularity among today’s collectors. Featuring


approximately 50


historic and contemporary objects by 25 artists, the works are drawn from UMMA’s holdings as well as public and private collections internationally. It also highlights a new commission by Takahashi Yoshiko (b 1988), the first woman to carry on her family’s studio name, Takahashi Rakusai. Visitors will also be able to hold and touch Takahashi’s work – a critical aspect to truly understanding the beauty and essence of Shigaraki ware. Te first of three sections is Re-Presenting


Japan: Shigaraki


Ware in Postwar Collecting and Exhibitions. Until the 1940s, most Americans associated Japanese ceramics with delicate and ornate porcelain. After the Second World War, as part of its effort to reshape international perceptions, Japan began celebrating the modesty and austerity


of its


and foundations encouraged and supported American ceramic artists’ travel to and study at traditional kiln sites in Japan. Artists often chose to go to Shigaraki, because of its close proximity to the urban centre of Kyoto. In turn, Japanese artists were given opportunities to lecture, give presentations, and build woodfired kilns in the US, deepening the creative exchange between the two countries. American artists were often moved by the creation process, techniques, and philosophies behind Japanese wares, and their presence in Japan, in turn, encouraged more Japanese people, especially women, to become independent artists. Clay as Soft Power includes objects


Shigaraki ware storage jar, late 16th/early 17th century, stoneware with natural ash glaze, University of Michigan Museum of Art, museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund, 1986. Photo: Jeri Hollister and Patrick Young, Michigan Imaging


by such ceramics luminaries as Peter Voulkos and Kenneth (Ken) Ferguson, both of whom participated in the residency program at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in the 1990s. It also includes works by artists with ties to Michigan, including John and Susanne Stephenson and Georgette Zirbes, who were trained in Shigaraki in the 1960s. John Stephenson first encountered contemporary Japanese ware during a 1957 presentation by Bizen ware artist Kaneshige Toyo at the University of Michigan. Stephenson, who was then a student at Cranbrook Academy of Art, was so inspired that he and his wife, fellow ceramicist Susanne Stephenson, travelled to Japan in


folk-type wares,


including the naturally glazed wares of Shigaraki, one of Japan’s oldest kiln sites, which has been in operation since the 13th century. Americans were introduced to these works, in part, through the efforts of James Marshall Plumer (1899-1960), a professor of East Asian art at the


ASIAN ART | NOVEMBER 2022 |


University of Michigan, and the philanthropist John D Rockefeller III (1906-1978), who worked in postwar Japan to support public and private interests. Teir efforts and collaborations led to the creation of several important exhibitions in the US, including Japanese Pottery Old and New at the Detroit Institute of Arts, which was organised by Plummer in 1951 and included rustic Japanese wares for the first time. Te circulation of these works through exhibitions also spurred active collecting of Shigaraki ware among American museums between the 1960s and 1980s. Large Shigaraki storage jars


created between the 14th to the early 17th centuries, often paired with screen


paintings, became an


archetypal presentation of Japanese art. Te proliferation of these objects helped to shift the image of Japan from a recent war enemy to an


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Crushed Vessel (2014) by Fujimoto Hide, stoneware with natural ash glaze, collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz. Photo: Julia Feathergill Photography © Fujimoto Hide


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Shigaraki jar (tsubo), Edo period, 17th century, stoneware with natural ash glaze and gold lacquer repairs, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art


1962 to research and learn about woodfired kilns producing unglazed ware. While in Kyoto, they were introduced to contemporary artist Takahashi Rakusai III and began working for his studio. In addition to a diverse selection of objects, this section of the exhibition includes archival photographs,


and


correspondence between American and Japanese artists. Te final section looks at the rise in


popularity of Shigaraki ware and its position in private collections. Over the past 20 years, contemporary Japanese ceramics has emerged as a popular medium for American collectors and Shigaraki ware is a significant part of this trend. Collectors who are actively expanding their private holdings are working with American dealers, who have extensive networks and relationships with Japanese artists, deepening collector knowledge of the medium and diversifying the range of artists that are being collected. While American collectors have become increasingly important


to the market for contemporary Shigaraki ware, they are also supporting the development of exhibitions and lending works that expand public understanding of the history and contemporary relevance of these objects. Tis


contemporary activity is


particularly important to the incorporation of women artists into the narratives of ceramics and the legacy and trajectory of Shigaraki ware, including Takahashi Yoshiko, who is being commissioned to create a new work and will also show a Shigaraki Vase from 2010. Other important


contemporary Japanese


artists included are Koyama Kiyoko, Otani Shiro and Kohyama Yasuhisa. Natsu Oyobe, Curator of Asian Art at UMMA says of the exhibition,


‘It explores Shigaraki ware through a new lens, one that captures the critical social and political importance to these objects across two countries. It is particularly exciting to add a layer of scholarship and understanding to objects that are often encountered in museum contexts, inviting visitors to think about and engage with them in a different way. It is also an opportunity to celebrate contemporary


artists


continuing the Shigaraki ware’s legacy, especially women artists, who have historically had less access to develop their skills. Clay as Soft Power is a step in bringing their voices more


actively into the


conversation as interest in Shigaraki ware continues to grow’. Te exhibition is accompanied by a


• Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America and Japan, from 12 November to 7 May, 2023, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Michigan, umma.umich.edu


major catalogue, with essays by Oyobe; Louise Allison Cort, Curator Emerita of Ceramics at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution; and Kazuko Todate, a professor and independent curator who specializes in craft history, ceramic history, and craft theory.


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