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Galleries and museums often hype its exhibits, pointing to a unique element to double down on a show’s exclusive nature. 

 didn’t have to try hard for one of its latest exhibits. It’s work by a Japanese artist whose ceramics are so sought-after in his homeland that they had never before been shown outside of Japan. 

The gallery off the Institute's ground floor lobby, across from the gift shop, isn't big. That intimate size enhances a visitor's sense of entering an unexpected treasure house. 

There are jars, bottles, vases and other objects that seem familiar but still somehow unidentifiable. Each is carefully decorated, some with designs carved into the clay, others intricately glazed. 

"This is an artist who is phenomenally well known in Japan, really lauded as one of the great inventive geniuses of the Japanese contemporary ceramic world," said Matthew Welch, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. 

Welch said despite having lived a short life — Kamoda died at age 49 in 1983 — the artist continues “to capture people's imaginations” in Japan. 

"America has been focused on Japanese ceramics for the last 75 years, I think it's fair to say, and yet he's not known in this country," said Welch.

In the years after World War II, Western artists, including influential teachers such as Minnesota's own Warren Mackenzie, came to revere and teach the folk art tradition central to Japanese ceramics. Japanese potters created pieces meant to please the eye and to be used. 

Welch said Kamoda grew up in that tradition, but decided it was not for him. He began making pieces that could hold flowers or rice or water, but the pieces were really just meant to be appreciated for their beauty. Welch said, for U.S. collectors, Kamoda may have been eclipsed by the bigger Japanese names — but local collectors loved his work.

"The Japanese were lining up at Kamoda’s exhibitions and snapping absolutely everything up as soon as he produced it,” said Welch. “So there really wasn't material available for foreign collectors. And this remains true. His objects are rarer than hen's teeth on the market, and expensive when you find them."

Many potters find a style, or a decorative approach that works for them and then focus on it, sometimes for the rest of their careers. 

He began working with different movements, as Welch calls them, creating a line of work for a year or two, selling them all, and moving on.  He worked with stripes, with forms that looked like flags, and butterflies. 

His works with wave shapes were particularly popular. Even in the late 1970s, when he became seriously ill with leukemia, Welch said Kamoda kept working and innovating.

"You would expect some sort of decline, or at least replication of something earlier. No, he launches out in an entirely new direction. These jewel-like Harlequin patterns that cover the surfaces of his vessel from this period,’’ he said. “He has his last show in 1980, and dies in 1983."

Welch said the Institute’s show is the result of the determination of a New York collector-dealer, Joan Mirviss, who has long advocated for Kamoda's work in the U.S. Working with her, Welch and other museum staff were able to convince the small number of U.S. collectors to share their pieces. That, in turn, led to a remarkable gathering in December.

"We had 20 collectors from across the nation who agreed to lend us their works to form this exhibition,” said Welch. “And they all flew in in the snowstorm to, at long last, celebrate this creative genius in the United States."

Welch said there was palpable excitement in the gallery as the collectors got a chance to see where their pieces fit within the larger scope of Kamoda's work. He said this show is a big deal.

"It's huge. I really do think it's huge,” said Welch. “Because, again, not only is the issue of reputation and knowledge about him outside of Japan, unknown. It's extraordinary that we were able to gather together this many works from private collections in this country, to make this exhibition possible. He's that rare."

Welch said he believes Kamoda would have been pleased by this show, but would probably have been eager to get back to the studio to keep working.

Arts and Culture

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Euan Kerr

Author

Galleries and museums often hype its exhibits, pointing to a unique element to double down on a show’s exclusive nature. The Minneapolis Institute of Art didn’t have to try hard for one of its latest exhibits: ceramic work by Kamoda Shoji.

A potter revered in Japan finally gets a show in U.S.

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