Bernard Leach
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Bernard Howell Leach (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British
studio potter Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...
and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery".


Biography


Early years (Japan)

Leach was born in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
. His mother Eleanor (née Sharp) died in childbirth. He spent his first three years in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
with his father, Andrew Leach, until he moved back to Hong Kong in 1890. Leach attended the
Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
and the London School of Art, where he studied etching under
Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...
. Reading books by
Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish language, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish people, Irish-Greeks, Greek-Japanese people, Japanese writer, t ...
, he became interested in Japan. In 1909 he returned to Japan with his young wife Muriel (née Hoyle) intending to teach etching.
Satomi Ton is a feminine Japanese given name which is also used as a surname. Possible writings Satomi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *里美, "hometown, beauty" *怜美, "wise, beauty" *聡美, "wise, beauty" *智美, "wisd ...
,
Kojima Kikuo Kojima may refer to: Surname * Kojima (surname) Places * Kōjima, an island known for wild monkeys in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan * Kojima, an uninhabited island belonging to the Tokara Islands, in the southern part of Kagoshima Prefecture, J ...
, and later
Ryūsei Kishida was a Japanese painter in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. He is best known for his realistic ''yōga''-style portraiture, but also for his ''nihonga'' paintings in the 1920s. Biography Kishida was born in the Ginza district of Tokyo in 1891, ...
were his pupils. In
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, he gave talks and attended meetings along with Mushanokōji Saneatsu,
Shiga Naoya was a Japanese writer active during the Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan, whose work was distinguished by its lucid, straightforward style and strong autobiographical overtones. Early life Shiga was born in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, ...
,
Yanagi Sōetsu , also known as Yanagi Muneyoshi, was a Japanese art critic, philosopher, and founder of the ''mingei'' (folk craft) movement in Japan in the late 1920s and 1930s. Personal life Yanagi was born in 1889 to Yanagi Narayoshi, a hydrographer of the I ...
and others from the "
Shirakaba The was an influential Japanese literary coterie, which published the literary magazine '' Shirakaba'', from 1910 to 1923. History In 1910, a loose association of alumni of the prestigious Gakushuin Peer’s School in Tokyo began a literary s ...
-Group",Shirakaba ="The Birch" () was an influential cultural magazine at that time. who were trying to introduce western art to Japan after 250 years of seclusion. About 1911 he attended a Raku-yaki pottery party which was his first introduction to ceramics, and through introduction by Ishii Hakutei, he began to study under Urano Shigekichi (1851–1923), who stood as ''Kenzan 6th'' in the tradition of potter
Ogata Kenzan , originally , and also known by the pseudonym Shisui, was a Japanese potter and painter. Biography Ogata Kenzan was born in Kyoto into a rich merchant family. His older brother was the painter Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716). Kenzan studied with the ...
(1663–1743). Assisting as interpreter for technical terms was the potter
Tomimoto Kenkichi was a Japanese potter and a Living National Treasure. Biography His family came from Nara prefecture. He received a commission to design a large Japanese-lacquered zelkova shelf called “kingin-sai kazari tsubo” for the ''Ume-no-Ma'' au ...
, whom he had met already earlier. From this time Leach wrote articles for the Shirakaba. In 1913 he also drafted covers for ''
Shirakaba The was an influential Japanese literary coterie, which published the literary magazine '' Shirakaba'', from 1910 to 1923. History In 1910, a loose association of alumni of the prestigious Gakushuin Peer’s School in Tokyo began a literary s ...
'' and ''Fyūzan''.A cultural magazine. Fyūzan = French ''fusain'', charcoal pencil. Attracted by the Prussian philosopher and art scholar Dr.
Alfred Westharp Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...
, who at the time was living in Peking, Leach moved to Peking in 1915. There he took on the Name (for "Leach"), but returned the following year to Japan. It was the year 1919, when young
Hamada Shōji A hamada ( ar, حمادة, ) is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky plateaus, where most of the sand has been removed by deflation. The majority of the Sahara is in fact hamada. Other examples are Negev dese ...
visited Leach for the first time. Leach received a kiln from Kenzan and built it up in Yanagi's garden and called it ''Tōmon-gama''. Now established as a potter, he decided to move to England. In 1920, before leaving, he had an exhibition in Osaka, where he met the potter
Kawai Kanjirō was a Japanese potter and a key figure in ''mingei'' (Japanese folk art) and studio pottery movements, which included Bernard Leach, Shōji Hamada, Kenkichi Tomimoto, Shikō Munakata, Keisuke Serizawa, and Tatsuzō Shimaoka, among others. Biog ...
. In Tokyo, a farewell exhibition was organized.


Back in England

Leach returned to England in 1920 on the invitation of Frances Horne. Horne was establishing a Guild of Handicrafts within the existing artist colony of St Ives in Cornwall. On the recommendation of a family friend, Edgar Skinner, she contacted Leach to suggest that he become the potter within this group. Leach and his wife Muriel were accompanied by the young
Hamada Shoji A hamada ( ar, حمادة, ) is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky plateaus, where most of the sand has been removed by deflation. The majority of the Sahara is in fact hamada. Other examples are Negev dese ...
and, having identified a suitable site next to the Stennack river on the outskirts of St Ives, the two established the
Leach Pottery The Leach Pottery was founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada in St Ives, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. The buildings grew from an old cow / tin-ore shed in the 19th century to a pottery in the 1920s with the addition of a two-sto ...
in 1920. They constructed a traditional Japanese climbing kiln or ' Noborigama (登り窯)', the first built in the West. The kiln was poorly built and was reconstructed in 1923 by Matsubayashi Tsurunosuke (1894-1932). In 1934, Leach and
Mark Tobey Mark George Tobey (December 11, 1890 – April 24, 1976) was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophi ...
travelled together through France and Italy, then sailed from Naples to Hong Kong and Shanghai, where they parted company, Leach heading on to Japan. Leach formally joined the
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
in 1940 after being introduced to it by Mark Tobey, who was himself a Baháʼí. A
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
to the Baháʼí shrines in
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, during 1954 intensified his feeling that he should do more to unite the East and West by returning to the Orient "to try more honestly to do my work there as a Baháʼí and as an artist..." Leach promoted pottery as a combination of Western and Eastern arts and philosophies. His work focused on traditional Korean, Japanese and Chinese
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
, in combination with traditional techniques from England and Germany, such as
slipware Slipware is pottery identified by its primary decorating process where slip is placed onto the leather-hard (semi-hardened) clay body surface before firing by dipping, painting or splashing. Slip is an aqueous suspension of a clay body, which ...
and salt glaze ware. He saw pottery as a combination of art, philosophy, design and craft – even as a greater lifestyle. ''
A Potter's Book A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'' (1940) defined Leach's craft philosophy and techniques; it went through many editions and was his breakthrough to recognition.


Midlife

Leach advocated simple and utilitarian forms. His ethical pots stand in opposition to what he called fine art pots, which promoted aesthetic concerns rather than function. Popularized in the 1940s after the publication of ''
A Potter's Book A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
,'' his style had lasting influence on
counter-culture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
and modern design in North America during the 1950s and 1960s. Leach's pottery produced a range of "standard ware" handmade pottery for the general public. He continued to produce pots which were exhibited as works of art. Many potters from all over the world were apprenticed at the
Leach Pottery The Leach Pottery was founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada in St Ives, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. The buildings grew from an old cow / tin-ore shed in the 19th century to a pottery in the 1920s with the addition of a two-sto ...
, and spread Leach's style and beliefs. His British associates and trainees include
Michael Cardew Michael Ambrose Cardew (1901–1983), was an English studio potter who worked in West Africa for twenty years. Early life Cardew was born in Wimbledon, London, the fourth child of Arthur Cardew, a civil servant, and Alexandra Kitchin, the elde ...
, Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie, David Leach (his son), Janet Darnell (whom Leach married in 1956) and William Marshall. Another of his students at St Ives was
William Worrall William Edwin Worrall (1877-1940) was a Staffordshire-born designer of fabric, pottery, glass and stoneware. He was the brother of the watercolour painter Thomas Frederick Worrall and shared similar artistic ability. Early life William Edwin ...
who became chief craftsman at the Chalice Well crafts guild in Glastonbury. His American apprentices include
Warren MacKenzie Warren MacKenzie (February 16, 1924 – December 31, 2018) was an American craft potter. He grew up in Wilmette, Illinois the second oldest of five children including his brothers, Fred and Gordon and sisters, Marge (Peppy) and Marilyn. His hi ...
(who likewise influenced many potters through his teaching at the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
),
Byron Temple Byron Temple (1933–2002) was an American potter. Temple learned to throw on the wheel at Ball State University as an undergrad in his native Indiana. After college and serving in the U.S. Army, Temple discovered ''A Potter's Book'', written by ...
, Clary Illian and Jeff Oestrich. He was a major influence on the leading
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
potter
Len Castle Leonard Ramsay Castle (23 December 1924 – 29 September 2011) was a New Zealand Pottery, potter. Early life and family Born in Auckland on 23 December 1924, Castle was educated at Mount Albert Grammar School. He went on to study at Univer ...
who travelled to London to spend time working with him in the mid-1950s. Another apprentice was an Indian potter
Nirmala Patwardhan Nirmala Patwardhan (1928–2008) was an eminent ceramic artist from India. Born in Hyderabad, Sindh, she grew up in Japan and studied art under Nandalal Bose at Santiniketan before working with Ulrich Gunther at Stuttgart, Ray Finch and Bernard Le ...
who developed the so-called Nirmala glaze based on an 11th-century Chinese technique. His four Canadian apprentices, John Reeve,
Glenn Lewis Glennon Ricketts Jr. (born March 13, 1975), professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations. Early li ...
, Michael Henry and Ian Steele helped to shape the pottery scene in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
and the Canadian west coast during the 1960 and 1970s. The Cypriot potter Valentinos Charalambous trained with Leach in 1950-51. Leach was instrumental, with
Muriel Rose Muriel Rose (1897–1986) was a collector and publiciser of modern craft and design, a curator, gallery owner and writer, and important in the later Arts and Crafts movement. She has been described as having "made a formidable contribution to t ...
, in organising the only International Conference of Potters and Weavers in July 1952 at
Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...
, where he had been working and teaching. It included exhibitions of British pottery and textiles since 1920, Mexican folk art, and works by conference participants, among them Shoji Hamada and US-based Bauhaus potter
Marguerite Wildenhain Marguerite Wildenhain, née Marguerite Friedlaender and alternative spelling ''Friedländer'' (October 11, 1896 – February 24, 1985), was an American Bauhaus-trained ceramic artist, educator and author. After immigrating to the United States in ...
. Another important contributor was Japanese aesthetician Soetsu Yanagi, author of ''The Unknown Craftsman''. According to Brent Johnson, "The most important outcome of the conference was that it helped organize the modern studio pottery movement by giving a voice to the people who became its leaders…it gave them each, Hamada and Yanagicelebrity status…
hile Hile ( ne, हिले) is a hill town located in the Eastern Part of Nepal, 13 km north of the regional center of Dhankuta Bazar. At an elevation of 1948 meters, it is the main route to other hilly districts like Bhojpur and Sankhuwasab ...
Marguerite Wildenhain emerged from Dartington Hall as the most important craft potter in America."


Later years

He continued to produce work until 1972 and never ended his passion for travelling, which made him a precursor of today's artistic globalism. He continued to write about ceramics even after losing his eyesight. The
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London held a major exhibition of his art in 1977. The
Leach Pottery The Leach Pottery was founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada in St Ives, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. The buildings grew from an old cow / tin-ore shed in the 19th century to a pottery in the 1920s with the addition of a two-sto ...
still remains open today, accompanied by a museum displaying many pieces by Leach and his students.


Honours

* Charles Fergus Binns Medal for Excellence in Ceramics, 1950 *
Japan Foundation The was established in 1972 by an Act of the National Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an Independent Administrative Institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry o ...
Cultural Award, 1974 * Companion of Honour, 1973 (UK) *
Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...
, 1966 (Japan) *
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, 1962


Edmund de Waal's book

Edmund de Waal Edmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal, (born 10 September 1964) is a contemporary English artist, master potter and author. He is known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels often created in response to collections and archives or th ...
, British ceramic artist and professor of Ceramics at the
University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...
, had been taught pottery by Geoffrey Whiting, a disciple of Leach, at the
King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...
. Whilst in Japan, de Waal worked on a monograph of Leach, researching Leach's papers and journals in the archive room of the
Japanese Folk Crafts Museum The is a museum in Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan, dedicated to the hand-crafted art of ordinary people (''mingei'').Access is from Komaba-tōdaimae Station, Komaba-Tōdaimae Station of Keio Inokashira Line. The museum was es ...
, De Waal's book on Bernard Leach was published in 1998. He described it as "the first 'de-mystifying' study of Leach". "The great myth of Leach", he said, "is that Leach is the great interlocutor for Japan and the East, the person who understood the East, who explained it to us all, brought out the mystery of the East. But in fact the people he was spending time with, and talking to, were very few, highly educated, often Western educated Japanese people, who in themselves had no particular contact with rural, unlettered Japan of peasant craftsmen". De Waal noted that Leach had looked at only a narrow range of Japanese ceramics. (1) Leach was not fluent in the Japanese language, but more importantly, he was an educated artist with a keen eye, working in Japan for ten years, much longer than any other western arts and crafts man. (2) When Leach came to Japan in 1909, the everyday potter had already disappeared, due to industrial production of tableware. At that time, his friend Yanagi and others were trying to save expressively this heritage, starting the
Mingei The concept of , variously translated into English as "folk craft", "folk art" or "popular art", was developed from the mid-1920s in Japan by a philosopher and aesthete, Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961), together with a group of craftsmen, including ...
-(folklore)-movement. Later in his life, but much before de Waal's book appeared, Leach spent ten years translating Yanagi's book ''The Unknown Craftsman'', together with Japanese friends, into English.
De Waal also noted that Leach did not speak Japanese, but in fact he did speak the language to a conversational standard; recordings of this are held by the Mingei Film Archive and the
Crafts Study Centre The Crafts Study Centre is a university museum of modern crafts, located next to the entrance of the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham, Surrey. The Crafts Study Centre holds collections of 20th and 21st century British craft, primar ...
, Farnham.


Writings (selected)

*1940: ''A Potter's Book''. London:
Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
**New edition, with introductions by Soyetsu Yanagi and
Michael Cardew Michael Ambrose Cardew (1901–1983), was an English studio potter who worked in West Africa for twenty years. Early life Cardew was born in Wimbledon, London, the fourth child of Arthur Cardew, a civil servant, and Alexandra Kitchin, the elde ...
. London: Faber and Faber, 1976, *1985: ''Beyond East and West: Memoirs, Portraits and Essays''. New edition, London: Faber and Faber (September 1985), *1988: ''Drawings, Verse & Belief'
Oneworld Publications
3rd edition (1988),


Notes


References


Further reading

* Olding, Simon. (2010). ''The Etchings of Bernard Leach'',
Crafts Study Centre The Crafts Study Centre is a university museum of modern crafts, located next to the entrance of the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham, Surrey. The Crafts Study Centre holds collections of 20th and 21st century British craft, primar ...
. * Johnson, Brent. (2007). "A Matter of Tradition" * Cooper, Emmanuel. (2003). ''Bernard Leach Life & Work. New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...
. (cloth) * Johnson, Brent. (2007). "A Matter of Tradition" i
Wildenhain and the Bauhaus: An Eyewitness Anthology''
Dean and Geraldine Schwarz, eds.. Decorah, Iowa: South Bear Press. (cloth) * Watson, Oliver. (1997). ''Bernard Leach: Potter and Artist,'' London: Crafts Council. * Weinberg, Robert. (1999)
''Spinning the Clay into Stars: Bernard Leach and the Baháʼí Faith.''
Oxford: George Ronald Publishers. (paper) * Ohara Museum of Art/Asahi Shimbun (1980): ''An Exhibition of the Art of Bernard Leach''. Catalogue in Japanese. * Sōetsu Yanagi: ''The Unknown Craftsman''. Foreword by Shōji Hamada. Adapted by Bernard Leach. Kodansha International, 1972. *Leach, Bernard. (1990). Hamada, Potter. Foreword by Warren MacKenzie. Kodansha International 1990
975 Year 975 ( CMLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor John I raids Mesopotamia and invades Syria, using ...


External links


Leach Pottery

Further information

Studio Pottery

Leach Source Collection
an
Bernard Leach Archive
held at the Crafts Study Centre and hosted online by th
Visual Arts Data Service (VADS)

Historic Leach pottery
a
Stoke-on-Trent Museums
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leach, Bernard 1887 births 1979 deaths Arts and Crafts movement artists English potters St Ives artists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour British people of Hong Kong descent English Bahá'ís Converts to the Bahá'í Faith 20th-century Bahá'ís Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class Cornish pottery 20th-century ceramists Mingei Ceramists