Inside Japanese Ceramics: A Primer of Materials, Techniques, and Traditions

Rating:
Summary: An essential guide for the potter or the collector.
Review: This volume presents not only the "how-to" of Japanese ceramics, but broader considerations of their significance within the context of world ceramics. Richard Wilson has not only trained extensively with Japanese potters, but is also thoroughly familiar with the many historical ceramic types which form the tradition which continues today. Virtually no art potters today remain unaffected by the tremendous impact of Japanese ceramics, and Wilson's book provides the contemporary ceramist with a reference that is at once useful and inspiring. The text is clear and straightforward in the explanatory sections while at the same time conveying to the reader the fascinating historical and cultural context on which the many techniques are based. The color illustrations are first class, and the technical photographs, illustrations and diagrams are clear, easy to read and appropriately placed. As in his earlier volume, The Art of Ogata Kenzan, Wilson has taken great pains to ensure that his information is both accurate and as complete as possible. Eschewing past tendencies of Western ceramists to mainly focus either on the externals of Japanese pots or on a touchy-feely, pseudo-philosophical/religous approach, Wilson sees the essence of Japanese ceramics as intrinsically linked to production process and functionality. As he summarizes, "(The Japanese ceramics legacy) suggests... renouncing artistic individualism... and rededicating oneself to personal discipline and harmony with materials, processes, and the user community. It implies thinking about the pots as part of an ongoing process, a relaxed conversation with the world, rather than as a kind of personal decree." Through this book, Richard Wilson has provided a great volume of reference not only for those who "do" ceramics, but for those who love ceramics as well.