Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
New volume in the Cleveland Masterwork Series focuses on a group of important late nineteenth through early twentieth-century Japanese ceramic artists.
This is the first comprehensive look in English at the Seifū Yohei Ceramic Studio in Kyoto, from the Meiji period (1868-1912) to mid Shōwa period (1926-89), taking the renowned James and Christine Heusinger Collection as its core material. The principal essay provides a biography of Seifū Yohei III, the star of the studio and the first ceramist to be named an Imperial Household Artist, as well as an overview of the studio that contextualizes it in the world of literati painting, sencha, and international trade. A second essay offers a brief history of porcelain production in Kyoto, as well as a discussion of objects produced by the Seifū studio for sencha. The catalogue of a hundred works examines the wide variety of forms, decorative techniques and glazes that made the studio's works unique within ceramic production of their era.