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context: ceramics > modern
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a 1960 bottle by Shoji Hamada |
Mingei Movement
The Mingei movement, started by Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961), had a lot in common with William Morris's Arts and Crafts movement in England - and the Englishman Bernard Leach was an immensely influential figure in the Mingei movement, and in Western views of Japanese ceramics, and in Japanese views of same - things get very complicated here, and there are whole books and theses on this subject.
Anyway, Mingei means 'folk craft' - it highlighted the beauty of ceramics made for ordinary people in times past, and supported these styles in the early part of the 20th Century. Its most notable potter was...
Shoji Hamada
This movement is also the subject of a small essay about its interactions with the West: