Ken Matsuzaki - Monograph 2011

KEN MATSUZAKI

GOLDMARK

. . . such power, skill and subtlety is the mark of a great and confident artist.

Phil Rogers

front cover Pot number 8

Price ÂŁ10

KEN MATSUZAKI

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KEN MATSUZAKI

Essay by Phil Rogers

GOLDMARK 2011

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Ken Matsuzaki

Mashiko is a town similar in population to Stratford-upon-Avon. Set amidst rural farmland about 100km north of Tokyo. Pottery has been made there since the Jomon period, although it wasn’t until 1930, when the internationally recognised potter Shoji Hamada settled there and created his workshop, that Mashiko became famous as a pottery centre. Hamada’s influence was immense not only in his native Japan but also across the globe and particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. Images of Hamada working at his stick wheel dressed in traditional clothes (incidentally made from cloth woven by Ethel Mairet in Ditchling) and walking in traditional Geta shoes earned him iconic status in the West. In Japan too he was seen as the embodiment of Mingei values and, in 1955, was awarded individual certification as an Important Intangible Cultural Property or Living National Treasure.

I mention Hamada only to help us place the work of Ken Matsuzaki into a context of time and place. At the very end of the main street in Mashiko there is a three way junction. To the right is the road to Kasama, a neighbouring town also known as a centre for pottery making. To the left is the Mashiko Town Hall and the bus stop for the early (very early!) bus to Tokyo. Straight on is a quiet country lane that climbs gently along the side of a wooded hill. From the road and to the left there is a view over the town of Mashiko. To the right one can see large and elegant thatched houses nestling amongst the trees. Near to the road and across from a very small car parking area is an archway underneath one such building which

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leads to the compound of Shoji Hamada and now the workplace of Shinsaku Hamada and his son Tomoo. A little further along the road is the pottery that, until his recent passing, was the workplace of Shimaoka Tatsuzo, himself a Living National Treasure. Then, as if to complete the apprentice ‘family tree’ one comes to the home of Matsuzaki Ken. The road follows a kind of time line in that Shimaoka was Hamada’s favoured pupil and, in turn, Matsuzaki was apprenticed to Shimaoka for five years becoming Shimaoka’s favoured pupil.

Apprenticeship is an important feature of ceramics in Japan.

Students are required to regard the master with enormous respect and, at first, the life of the apprentice can be laborious, repetitive and subservient. However, during three years the student can absorb a great deal of whatever it is that makes the master a great potter. Often, it is a case of watching and digesting rather than being taught and apprentices are expected to see their time with the master as both a privilege and a time to learn a deeply ingrained discipline that will last a whole career. It is a relationship that could barely exist here in the West. The dynamics of the liaison are steeped in tradition in a country where traditions are seriously maintained and self discipline is seen as a virtue almost above all others.

As Matsuzaki writes . . . I have paraphrased a little . . .

‘As Shimaoka’s apprentice I had the responsibility of doing small tasks around his work space: cleaning the studio, acting as his driver and even giving him massages three times a week alternating with the professional masseur. Because of my skill as a masseur I

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always accompanied Shimaoka-sensei when he travelled away from his Mashiko workshop for exhibitions in major Japanese cities or when he gave workshops overseas.

More than ceramic technique, from Shimaoka-sensei, I learned philosophy, the necessary mental attitude when making art and how to think about ceramics. The ability to do massage provided me with invaluable time to discuss these things with him since Shimaoka-sensei never allowed apprentices to ask questions while he was working.’ By describing the apprentice system in Japan and relating it to Ken Matsuzaki in particular I want to draw attention to what I believe is a fundamental indicator to the character of the man and his art.

It is well known amongst potters that those who apprenticed rather than learnt their craft by another means often struggle to find their own voice. Sometimes they never quite succeed in breaking away and their work is tethered stylistically to the master for ever. I can think of another apprentice to Shimaoka who, even after many years away from the hot flame, still limps along making weak pastiche and earning a living by association. Matsuzaki wrote about just this dilemma . . . and again I have paraphrased just a little . . . ‘During the last two years of my apprenticeship I worked on creating original food ceramics and researched decorative motifs. By the time I finished my apprenticeship and became independent I was able to make my own shapes with their own unique decoration.

About thirteen years after I became independent an art specialist from a foreign country saw my cobalt blue glaze, egret motif and

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commented that, to him, it looked like a copy of Shimaoka’s work.’

How that comment must have stung! I know very well that such criticism can wound deeply but what marks out the courageous man from another is the reaction to a comment like that. For Matsuzaki it triggered a long and self searching thought process about exactly what was his role in this ceramic world… ‘ . . . even if the motif on my jars was original the similarities of shape and glaze proved that the degree of originality was minimal. For several years after that I spent all my time thinking about how to create a new way of working for myself and, in the fifteenth year of becoming independent I decided to completely abandon everything in ceramics I had done thus far . . . the Mingei, Mashiko style and all of my original motifs.’

In 2004, writing an essay for a catalogue for a Matsuzaki show in the United States, I wrote . . .

‘Matsuzaki’s lineage is as straightforward as the road that takes you to his home – from Hamada Shoji via Shimaoka Tatsuzo. Yet his pots display little that is obvious in the way of direct influence from either of his illustrious forebears.’ I went on to say that in recent years Matsuzaki has trodden his own path, forged his own style and has done what Bernard Leach said we must do in quoting William Blake . . . ‘to drive our wagons over the bones of the dead’ . . . in other words to find one’s own way . . . to find one’s own voice.

We potters have a responsibility to do just that. In fact, there is little else that, as potters, we have left to do. People don’t need our pots any more . . . there are many other alternatives if we are

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thinking in a purely functional sense. Pots are bought because people see and appreciate an artistic expression. They understand the contemplative role that a pot can play in their lives and view it in the same way that one might view a painting or a sculpture. Buyers of contemporary pottery also require a connection to the maker of an object that will come to play an important role in their life in a world where global commercialism and industrialisation has robbed us of that direct and intimate association with its maker.

Matsuzaki wrote candidly about just this point . . .

‘Use has many meanings. To hold and use something on a daily basis is one meaning but display is also a type of use. Will one of my works be a display piece or be put away as a household treasure or be used physically as a utensil? That is up to the owner. I try to make pieces that can play any number of roles.’

On this subject Matsuzaki maintains a refreshingly modern, and some Japanese commentators might say, slightly revolutionary stance. Ken is concerned first and foremost with beauty. He sees his role as a potter to make works that satisfy the eye first and the hand second. If a tea bowl functions as a tea bowl . . . if it meets all the exacting aesthetic and tactile requirements of the tea master . . . that’s important of course but the bowl is also a stand-alone object that, aside of its function, should work as a visual composition and should be able to be appreciated as a ceramic art work by its owner without function in mind.

In conversations with Ken the word ‘natural’ crops up rather a lot. In his work he is at pains to create objects that have an unpretentious,

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genuine quality. Yes, many of the underlying themes in his pots are driven by traditional forms . . . tea ceremony wares . . . Chawan, Mizusashi, Koro, Kogo . . . pots for Ikebana, pots for the presentation of food . . . But while he has taken function as the framework for his work he has, with the greatest of respect, bent the rules of tradition, loosened the bonds of convention and what perhaps should have been expected of him, and created an oeuvre that is truly impressive and immediately recognisable as his own.

That alone is a considerable achievement . . . to come through a five year apprenticeship and then to take the courageous decision 15 years into his career to abandon what was familiar and safe and to develop and surmount a whole new approach with such power, skill and subtlety is the mark of a great and confident artist.

It is easy to find geological analogies to the natural world in his pieces . . . water reflecting on the surface of a rock, lichen, mosses, snow capped peaks and volcanic fusion . . . the list could go on.

What is also very interesting is to appreciate that, as part of the daring and tumultuous change that took place in the approach to his work, he began to work far less at the potters wheel. Instead he chose to hand build many of his pieces . . . a much slower process but one that gives the maker more time to think and to consider.

Much of what happens in nature happens slowly . . . And so it is with Matsuzaki’s pots. First of all the making is often a lengthy process. He has developed a coiling technique which allows him to coil build even the square bottles. The large jars are also coiled in a way which has great similarity to the methods of the Ongii potters of Korea and only at the very end does he throw the neck and lip. The spiralling and somewhat eccentric closed form vases

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are also coiled. Whilst in essence this method is slower than using the potters wheel Matsuzaki has become very adept at this skill and works with relative speed to produce enough work to fire an enormous four chamber wood fired climbing kiln twice a year.

Here again the rhythm of his work cycle is very evident. The firing takes place over seven days. Nothing is rushed, nothing forced.

Where some might cheat by throwing into the hot kiln handfuls of fine wood ash Matsuzaki prefers to build the surface of his pots with time and patience. I have fired with Ken in Mashiko, a privilege bestowed upon few as he doesn’t like having other potters present who might try to introduce their own ideas and opinions, and I can testify to the painstaking control that he brings to the firing.

Ken is, in effect, painting with fire. He uses the alkaline vapours released by the heat of the fire together with the wood ash and carefully selected clays and slips to create surfaces with immense depth and colour. The firing of a four chamber climbing kiln is a complicated modus operandi. Because of the extended length of the firing the temperature doesn’t have to be as high at its maximum heat as a shorter firing and for Ken it is important not to over fire. The atmosphere within the kiln is held in reduction for more than five days and the temperature held static throughout the same period. At the end of the firing Ken will introduce 40 sacks of charcoal to bring about an extra strong reduction that will turn the Shino glazes to a variegated, golden metallic surface and ensure that the rivulets of ash induced glass are emerald green.

Matsuzaki is an experienced wood firer and to watch him make minor adjustments to the air intake to the kiln, the damper in the

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chimney or making judgements about reduction or temperature balance is to watch a man entirely confident in what he is about.

Outwardly he is relaxed and manages the team of shift working journey men firers with a calm but authoritative air. He immediately knows if there is something amiss and will intervene but for the most part is content to watch and to gently steer until, on the 6th day, he is required to introduce the 40 sacks of charcoal.

The fiery, constantly surging maelstrom which is the firebox of this large kiln creates zones of differing temperatures and atmosphere.

Each chamber has its own character and produces pots of very different nature. The last chamber for instance contains pots with an ash glaze all of which are later refired in oxidation to produce a form of yellow Seto glaze. The long firing uses two and a half thousand bundles of wood each one costing almost two pounds each. However, the length and therefore the expense of the firing is crucial to its success. Without this extreme and arduous time scale the Feldspars would lack the softness, the alabaster like surface he requires. There would not be sufficient time for the movement of molten glass and for the layers of colour and patina to develop on the surfaces of the various clay bodies. The firing is as near to geological action as one can get – thousands of years of heat and pressure encapsulated in seven days.

On March 11th 2011 areas of Japan were devastated by the earthquake and resulting tsunami. Mashiko was badly affected and most of the climbing kilns in a town whose life blood is pottery were destroyed. Workshops too were damaged and many precious artefacts, particularly at the Hamada Reference Museum, were destroyed or badly damaged. Matsuzaki’s kilns were no exception.

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Both wood firing kilns were destroyed and will need to be rebuilt.

Mashiko will rise from this disaster, lives will resume and pots will continue to be made there. Luckily for Matsuzaki the pots for this exhibition had already left Japan before the earthquake hit and lucky for us that we can see again in the UK ceramics that are, in every way, world class from a man who is, in every sense of the word, a master of this craft of ours.

Phil Rogers, 2011 potter and writer

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88, 85, 82

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122,116,119

102,107,100

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125,110,117

99,105,104

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Illustrated Pots

All sizes in cm

1. Rectangular Vase. Narumi Oribe

43.0 x 49.0

2. Yohen Vase. Tetsu glaze

34.5 x 30.0

3. Yohen Vase. Shino

32.0 x 29.0

5. Yohen Vase. Natural ash glaze

29.5 x 26.0

6. Yohen Vase. Natural ash glaze

28.0 x 30.0

7. Yohen Vase. Natural ash glaze

26.0 x 26.0

8. Yohen Vase. Natural ash glaze

24.0 x 26.0

10. Yohen Vase. Natural ash glaze

21.5 x 23.5

11. Yohen Epigraphy Vase. Natural ash glaze

35.5 x 17.5

13. Yohen Epigraphy Vase. Natural ash glaze

34.0 x 15.0

14. Yohen Vase. Shino & natural ash glaze

41.0 x 23.0

15. Yohen Vase. Shino

31.5 x 21.5

16. Vase. Tetsu Shino

32.0 x 22.5

18. Yohen Vase. Shino

31.0 x 17.5

19. Yohen Vase. Shino

28.5 x 19.5

21. Rectangular Vase. Kiseto

25.0 x 23.0

25. Yohen Vase. Natural ash glaze

24.0 x 16.5

28. Yohen Vase. Shino

25.0 x 20.0

29. Yohen Vase. Shino & natural ash glaze

24.0 x 21.5

30. Vase. Shien Shino

23.5 x 12.0

31. Vase. Tetsu Shino

25.0 x 11.0

32. Vase. Narumi Oribe

31.0 x 16.5

33. Rectangular Vase. Narumi Oribe

24.0 x 25.0

36. Vase. Narumi Oribe

31.5 x 15.5

37. Epigraphy Vase. Oribe

28.5 x 21.5

44. Vase. Oribe

18.0 x 12.5

45. Vase. Oribe

15.0 x 14.0

47. Rectangular Vase. Narumi Oribe

22.0 x 18.0

48. Yohen Rectangular Vase. Shino

17.0 x 9.0

49. Yohen Rectangular Vase. Natural ash glaze

18.0 x 9.0

51. Rectangular Vase. Oribe

17.0 x 8.5

52. Rectangular Vase. Oribe

17.0 x 8.5

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54. Yohen Incense Burner. Shino & natural ash glaze

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17.0 x 14.0

57. Incense Burner. Oribe

10.5 x 9.0

58. Water Container. Oribe

16.0 x 17.0

59. Water Container. Oribe

17.0 x 19.0

60. Water Container. Oribe

17.0 x 21.0

61. Yohen Water Container. Natural ash glaze

19.0 x 21.0

62. Yohen Water Container. Natural ash glaze

16.5 x 18.5

63. Yohen Water Container. Natural ash glaze

20.0 x 16.0

64. Yohen Water Container. Natural ash glaze

13.0 x 23.5

65. Yohen Water Container. Natural ash glaze

21.5 x 13.0

66. Yohen Water Container with Handle. Natural ash glaze

26.0 x 19.0

67. Yohen Water Pot. Natural ash glaze

26.0 x 16.0

69. Yohen Water Pot. Shino & natural ash glaze

26.5 x 20.0

70. Water Pot. Oribe

28.5 x 10.0

71. Tea Bowl. Oribe Guro

10.0 x 11.5

72. Tea Bowl. Gold Shino

9.0 x 10.0

73. Tea Bowl. Yohen Shino

9.00 x 11.0

76. Tea Bowl. Kohiki

7.5 x 12.0

77. Tea Bowl. Shien Shino

9.0 x 10.5

78. Tea Bowl. Tetsu Shino

8.0 x 11.5

79. Tea Bowl. Oribe

7.5 x 11.0

82. Sake Bottle. Yohen Shino

16.5 x 8.5

84. Sake Bottle. Yohen natural ash glaze

14.0 x 8.0

85. Sake Bottle. Yohen natural ash glaze

15.5 x 7.5

86. Sake Bottle. Kiseto

14.5 x 7.5

87. Sake Bottle. Tetsu Shino

13.0 x 10.0

88. Sake Bottle. Oribe

13.5 x 8.0

99. Cup. Yohen Shino

11.0 x 9.0

100. Cup. Yohen Shino

10.0 x 9.0

102. Cup. Yohen natural ash glaze

10.5 x 8.0

104. Cup. Yohen natural ash glaze

10.5 x 8.0

105. Cup. Kiseto

10.5 x 8.0

107. Cup. Oribe

11.0 x 8.0

110. Sake Cup. Oribe Guro

4.5 x 7.0

116. Sake Cup. Yohen Shino

6.5 x 6.0

117. Sake Cup. Yohen Shino

5.0 x 7.0

119. Sake Cup. Yohen natural ash glaze

6.5 x 6.0

122. Sake Cup. Kiseto

6.0 x 6.5

125. Sake Cup. Kohiki

4.0 x 7.0

130. Square Plate. Kiseto

7.5 x 46.0

131. Floral-Shaped Bowl. Oribe

9.0 x 35.5

136. Square Bowl with Handle. Narumi Oribe

14.0 x 25.5

138. Bowl. Shino

10.5 x 25.5

139. Floral-Shaped Bowl. Kiseto

8.0 x 25.5

143. Vase. Yohen natural ash soda glaze

26.5 x 28.5

All pots come with a signed, purpose-made wooden box

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Biographical Notes 1950

Born in Tokyo, Japan, the third son of Nihonga painter Matsuzaki Shuki.

1972

Graduated from Tamagawa University, School of Fine Arts, ceramic art major.

Began a pottery apprenticeship with Tatsuzo Shimaoka, Mashiko (Tochigi Prefecture).

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Built a kiln and established a workshop in Mashiko, where he presently lives.

1980 1982

Received the Kokugakai Arts Association Nojima Award.

Became an associate member of the Kokugakai Arts Association.

1984

Received the Associate Members’ Prize of Excellence Award from the Kokugakai Arts Association.

1986

Became a full member of the Kokugakai Arts Association.

1993

Modern Japanese Ceramics Exhibition, Elysium Art, New York

1995

Group Exhibition, Gallery Dai Ichi Arts, New York, NY. Six Master Potters of the Modern Age Exhibition, Babcock Gallery, New York, NY.

2001

Solo Exhibition, Rufford Gallery, Nottinghamshire, England.

2002

Tradition Today Exhibition, Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA.

2003

Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan Exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.

2004 2005

Elemental Force Exhibition, Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA. Solo Exhibition, Ruthin Craft Centre, Ruthin, Wales UK. International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK. Solo Exhibition, Rufford Gallery, Nottinghamshire, England.

2006

Transformation and Use Exhibition, Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA.

2007

Solo Exhibition, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, England

2008

Burning Tradition Exhibition, Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA.

2009

Solo exhibition at Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, Rutland, UK

2010

Exploring the Exquisite exhibition, Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA

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Selected Exhibitions in Japan Fukuya Department Store, Hiroshima.

Hankyu Department Store, Osaka.

Keio Department Store, Tokyo.

Takashimaya Department Store, Yokohama.

Group exhibitions with Tatsuzo Shimaoka.

Matsuzaki Family Exhibitions with father and two brothers (painting, ceramics and lacquer ware).

Selected Museum Collections Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH. Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Sackler Museum of Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Tikotin Museum, Haifa, Israel.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.

Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA

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www.modernpots.com Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham, Rutland, LE15 9SQ 01572 821424

Text © Phil Rogers 2011 Photographs © Jay Goldmark / Vicki Uttley Design Porter / Goldmark

ISBN

978-1-870507-83-7 2011

With thanks to Maitreya for allowing us to photograph in his wonderful garden near Newark, UK. www.buddhamaitreya.co.uk

GOLDMARK CERAMICS MONOGRAPHS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Phil Rogers New Pots 2005 Clive Bowen New Pots 2006 Lisa Hammond New Pots 2006 Mike Dodd Recent Pots 2007 Ken Matsuzaki (2007) Thirty Years of a Living Tradition Svend Bayer (2007) New Pots Jim Malone (2008) The Pursuit of Beauty Phil Rogers (2008) A Potter of our Time

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Lisa Hammond (2009) Unconscious Revelation Ken Matsuzaki New Pots 2009 Mike Dodd New Pots 2009 Clive Bowen New Pots 2009 Svend Bayer New Pots 2010 Nic Collins New Pots 2011 Ken Matsuzaki New Pots 2011

GOLDMARK CERAMICS FILMS 1 3

Phil Rogers A Passion For Pots Svend Bayer

2 4

Ken Matsuzaki Elemental Nic Collins

For further details or to order: visit www.modernpots.com or phone 01572 821424

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www.modernpots.com Goldmark Uppingham Rutland LE15 9SQ England