Itaya Hazan

Itaya Hazan, 1955

Itaya Hazan ( Japanese 板 谷 波 山 ; April 10, 1872 in Shimodate (today Chikusei ) - October 10, 1963 , real name Itaya Kashichi ( 板 谷 嘉 七 )) was a Japanese potter of the Meiji , Taishō and Shōwa periods . He is considered the founder of modern ceramics in Japan.

life and work

Hazan was born in Shimodate, Ibaraki Prefecture. First he wanted to be a sculptor and graduated from the Tokyo Art Academy ( 東京 美術 学校 , Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō ; now Geidai ) in this subject. He then worked as a teacher at the Kanazawa Technical School and at the same time as the head of the porcelain department. So he began to study porcelain manufacturing. In 1093 he returned to Tokyo and opened his own workshop with a kiln in Tabata in the Kita district . As his stage name, he took the last two characters, spoken Hazan, from Mount Tsukuba , the characteristic mountain of his homeland .

Hazan endeavored all his life to bring form and color jewelry into a perfect unity. As a potter, he mainly represented vases, but also vessels and bowls. He produced pieces of white porcelain ( 白 磁 , hakuji ), celadon ( 青磁 , seiji ) and enamelled porcelain. For the latter, he developed his own new technique of glazing, so that the modeled decorations acquired a personal quality.

Itaya was already known as one of the most important potters in early 1910 and was a leading figure in pottery circles. He was one of the first to break away from traditional Japanese design and to adopt Art Nouveau from Western design . The vases mostly show floral decorations. He was named "Artist at the Imperial Court" ( 帝室 技 芸 員 , teishitsu gigei-in ), became a member of the Academy of Arts and in 1953 was the first potter to receive the Order of Culture .

Preparatory drawings for vases

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Remarks

1. ↑ One of the forerunners of Kanazawa University .

literature

• National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Ed.): Itaya Hazan exhibition. Asahi Shimbun Publishing House, 1995.
• Tazawa Yutaka: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art . Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Laurance P. Roberts: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .

Web links

Commons : Itaya Hazan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Itaya is the family name, Hazan the first name.