DOI Heft:
No. 392 (November 1925)
DOI Artikel:Cardew, Michael: The pottery of Mr. Bernard Leach
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21403#0304
THE POTTERY OF MR, BERNARD LEACH
%
" THE PAGODA IN THE HILLS." ENG-
LISH SLIPWARE NOTCHED DISH
(RED AND BROWN ON BUFF, WIDTH
13 INS.) BY BERNARD LEACH
THE POTTERY OF MR. BERNARD
LEACH. 0 0 0 0 0
ALTHOUGH Mr. Bernard Leach is
best known in this country for his
" Stoneware/' his " English Slipware "
formed a prominent feature of the exhibi-
tion of his work held this year at Paterson's
Gallery in Bond Street,* and the accom-
panying illustrations show some charac-
teristic examples of his recent work in
this field, inspired by the seventeenth-
century slipware dishes of Ralph Toft
and the other early English potters. 0
The story of how Mr. Leach came to be
so deeply influenced by this old English
slipware is intimately bound up with that
of his whole artistic development, so that
a short account of the latter is not out of
place here. He studied draughtsmanship
and painting at the Slade School; and
when in 1909 he went to Japan, it was as
an etcher and draughtsman, and with no
idea that it was pottery which was destined
to become his primary medium of expres-
sion. 0 0 0 0 0 &
His first contact with pottery was in
1911, when he was among the " invites "
to a sort of party which in Japan is an estab-
lished institution, and seems to be an
eminently civilized form of social amuse-
ment. It is called a " Raku Yaki Kwai " :
a number of undecorated pots are brought
in and each guest chooses for himself a
298
shape. Pigments and brushes are pro-
vided, and everyone decorates his pot
according to his personal taste or ability,
some with designs or painting, others with
calligraphic " occasional verse." Then
the pots, which are made of a special clay
to withstand sudden changes of tempera-
ture, are dipped in glaze, put into a small
" muffle " kiln standing in the garden, and
are fired with charcoal to a bright red heat.
Then in about half an hour the red-hot
pots are taken out with tongs, and in a
very few minutes the company can see
their work after going through the meta-
morphosis of the fire. 000
Soon after this episode, he took up
pottery seriously, beginning as a pupil of
the sixth Kenyan, who was the last of his
line, and has since died from shock
received during the great earthquake.
Starting with the easy, though limited,
technique of Raku, he soon went on to
the more difficult task of producing high-
temperature stoneware, inspired by the
old Chinese stoneware of the Sung period,
and by the work of the still earlier Han
and T'ang Dynasties ; and this is still his
primary interest in pottery. 0 0
There were Occidental influences at
work side by side with the Chinese.
In Tokyo Museum he found specimens
of old Dutch Delft, brought over by
the Dutch in the seventeenth century.
But the chief Western influence came
" WILLOW AND DUCKS." ENGLISH
SLIPWARE NOTCHED DISH (RED
AND BROWN ON BUFF, WIDTH
13 INS.) BY BERNARD LEACH
%
" THE PAGODA IN THE HILLS." ENG-
LISH SLIPWARE NOTCHED DISH
(RED AND BROWN ON BUFF, WIDTH
13 INS.) BY BERNARD LEACH
THE POTTERY OF MR. BERNARD
LEACH. 0 0 0 0 0
ALTHOUGH Mr. Bernard Leach is
best known in this country for his
" Stoneware/' his " English Slipware "
formed a prominent feature of the exhibi-
tion of his work held this year at Paterson's
Gallery in Bond Street,* and the accom-
panying illustrations show some charac-
teristic examples of his recent work in
this field, inspired by the seventeenth-
century slipware dishes of Ralph Toft
and the other early English potters. 0
The story of how Mr. Leach came to be
so deeply influenced by this old English
slipware is intimately bound up with that
of his whole artistic development, so that
a short account of the latter is not out of
place here. He studied draughtsmanship
and painting at the Slade School; and
when in 1909 he went to Japan, it was as
an etcher and draughtsman, and with no
idea that it was pottery which was destined
to become his primary medium of expres-
sion. 0 0 0 0 0 &
His first contact with pottery was in
1911, when he was among the " invites "
to a sort of party which in Japan is an estab-
lished institution, and seems to be an
eminently civilized form of social amuse-
ment. It is called a " Raku Yaki Kwai " :
a number of undecorated pots are brought
in and each guest chooses for himself a
298
shape. Pigments and brushes are pro-
vided, and everyone decorates his pot
according to his personal taste or ability,
some with designs or painting, others with
calligraphic " occasional verse." Then
the pots, which are made of a special clay
to withstand sudden changes of tempera-
ture, are dipped in glaze, put into a small
" muffle " kiln standing in the garden, and
are fired with charcoal to a bright red heat.
Then in about half an hour the red-hot
pots are taken out with tongs, and in a
very few minutes the company can see
their work after going through the meta-
morphosis of the fire. 000
Soon after this episode, he took up
pottery seriously, beginning as a pupil of
the sixth Kenyan, who was the last of his
line, and has since died from shock
received during the great earthquake.
Starting with the easy, though limited,
technique of Raku, he soon went on to
the more difficult task of producing high-
temperature stoneware, inspired by the
old Chinese stoneware of the Sung period,
and by the work of the still earlier Han
and T'ang Dynasties ; and this is still his
primary interest in pottery. 0 0
There were Occidental influences at
work side by side with the Chinese.
In Tokyo Museum he found specimens
of old Dutch Delft, brought over by
the Dutch in the seventeenth century.
But the chief Western influence came
" WILLOW AND DUCKS." ENGLISH
SLIPWARE NOTCHED DISH (RED
AND BROWN ON BUFF, WIDTH
13 INS.) BY BERNARD LEACH