Significantly, it was around this time, and through Yanagi, that he met his lifelong friend and creative kindred spirit, Shoji Hamada. Kent
The two found much in common and became good friends, so much so that Hamada asked and was granted permission to accompany Leach to England in 1920 when the latter decided to return and establish a pottery there. Work by Australian potters, especially those in Melbourne, was not difficult to source and, predictably, represented the greater number of pots in his collection. However, Hamada returned to Japan in 1923, and the pieces in the museum collection date from this experimental period from 1921-23 at the St Ives kilns.
The ceramics in the Maidstone Museum collection show an interesting collaboration and link between the European and Japanese ceramics collection, and an insight into two of the early collaborators in contemporary studio ceramics. During the decanting of objects from the ‘cloisters’ gallery in preparation for the new display of our Egyptian and Greek collections, we have been documenting and photographing the Toys and Games, Ceramics, and Egyptian collections which were previously on display. Yanagi ignited a fascination in Leach for Korean potteries, having visited them himself, and Leach returned to Japan in 1916 to build a pottery in Abiko (on Yanagi’s estate). 100 years ago today (28 August 2020), the youngest of Bernard and Muriel Leach's children were born. However the death of Muriel’s mother and a changing political situation in Japan had already prompted plans for a return to Britain. (shipwatcher.com), Kamo Maru in June 1934. Credit: The McPhie Family/The ShipWatcher Blog. The journey to England marked a new chapter in Bernard Leach’s life. The National Gallery of Victoria acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Melbourne, Joseph Willems’s Chelsea Pietà and eighteenth-century sculptural aesthetics, Hester Bateman: An eighteenth-century entrepreneur, Fragile identities: eighteenth-century British portraits in porcelain, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, NGV School and Community Support Programs, International Audience Engagement Network (IAE). Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. (TNA, 1878-1960) Joining the ship in Kobe, having taken advantage of the last-minute availability of a single cabin, was a 25-year-old graduate of the Tokyo School of Technology and aspiring studio potter, whom Leach had got to know over the course of three days the previous year. This mix of influences is visible in the Leach piece in our collection. ME14 1LH. (nyk.com).
By 1920 Bernard Leach was making and exhibiting pots regularly. Bernard Leach and Hamada Shoji through their work and teaching influenced a generation of potters and were seminal figures in the development of studio pottery during the twentieth century. Past and present meet – in some surprising ways – in this account of the sea voyage that brought Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada to Britain 100 years ago, In June 1920, the cargo-passenger steamer NYK Kamo Maru set sail from the Japanese port of Yokohama, bound for London. Leach’s secretary offered Hood three works in 1958, recommending the ‘Stoneware bowl … with small turned foot.
By far the largest number were by H. R. Hughan, whose work Hood admired immensely and bought extensively. Shortly afterwards Bernard Leach returned to London, rejoining Hamada who had been enthusiastically “taking bus routes from one end of the city to the other, and visiting museums and galleries”. After Kobe, the ship called at Shanghai. The first firing of the new kiln was in May 1924, and a community of artists rapidly built up around the pottery.