Never Enough Ceramics

Tsujimura Shiro (b. 1947)

Iga style stoneware



The Ando Gallery
(Room 109 of the Art Institute of Chicago)
gives the opportunity this month
to compare the new with the old
in Japanese ceramics
in a variety of techniques and
regional styles







but mostly it's a showcase for Tsujimura Shiro,
whose work is right at the edge
of unbalance
(but on the happy side of that edge)

This piece is
Iga style stoneware




Tsujimura Shiro



Shino style stoneware

This could be the froth
on the surface of a hot chocolate.
(But it's far more permanent)





Tsujimura Shiro



Shigaraki ware




Kato Tsubusa (b. 1962)


transparent blue glazed porcelain.

This piece is really amazing.
It feels like a swimming pool
from another dimension



Kim Ki-Chul (b. 1933)

(Kim's piece is on the left,
an historical piece is to the right)

Korean celadon porcelain




Nakamura Takuo (b. 1945)


overglaze enamels



17th C. piece

The tradition of hovering
at the edge of careless disaster
is a long one.




And now we move over to Gallery 106
(usually devoted to Korean ceramics and calligraphy)
now displaying the
Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
of Chinese and Korean ceramics
entitled
"Deft hands and Discerning Eyes"

Does the name sound familiar?

Well -- Dorothy Braud Edinburg
is the same collector
who gave the A.I.C. a bunch of European drawings
a few years ago,
blogged about here

The above pieces might exemplify her
taste in ceramics:
she liked them old, small, and strange.

(i.e. -- highly collectible)

I suppose I'm glad she gave them to the A.I.C.
(probably the biggest name museum
that would give her the deal she wanted)

But since the A.I.C. does not put its Chinese ceramics
on frequent rotation
(the way it does with the Japanese prints)
that just means these pieces
will mostly never see the light of day.






But still...
there were things I liked,
such as this Southern Song or Yuan Dynasty
black glazed ware
with fortuitous splashings



more of same.

Is this like a shower of shooting stars?


The glazing style of the left piece was apparently called
"partridge feather"
-- a deep black glaze mottled with caramel brown.




and I also liked this Song receptacle.

Would it contain the eau de cologne
in a beautiful woman's boudoir ?


But most of all,
I loved this Tang pear-shaped jar
with the cobalt blue splashings
in a pattern that seems random.

Almost.

(it's too lively and pretty)


here's the other side.

What a joy!

Why were the Tang so superior?