Sueharu Fukami - Erik Thomsen

Sueharu Fukami深 見 陶 治Table of contents35147476798388ForewordSueharu Fukami:Visions from theShards of SennyūjiWorksNotesSealsBox InscriptionsBiographyBibliography

ForewordIt is my great pleasure to host a solo exhibitionof works by Sueharu Fukami, the most famousJapanese ceramicist working today.Over twenty years ago I found my first Fukamipiece in Kyoto, a vase whose sleek lines andbeautiful glaze fascinated me (catalog nr. 18).Four years later, in 1991, I met Sueharu Fukamifor the first time at the wedding ceremony of mybrother, who married the artist’s niece. Since thenI have kept in close contact with him, seeing hisworks in his home as well as at museums, galleries,and private collections, and adding graduallyto my collection. This exhibition—the inauguralexhibit at our new gallery location in New York—marks the first time that I show my appreciationpublicly.of art. His work transcends Japan and our era in itsappeal. I see him as a profoundly great artist—oneof the greatest ceramic artists of any generation—who will continue to awe his audiences, regardlessof time and place.It is my sincere hope that you will share my enthusiasmin the visionary works of this remarkableartist.Erik ThomsenNew York, September, 2008My specialization has been in Japan’s older classicarts—the arts that were created for the Japanesethemselves and not produced for export to theWest. In particular I have focused on objects thatwere carefully created by first-rate masters, bymen and women with passion, who disregardedthe great time and effort required to hone theirskills in producing works of flawless beauty.Here I sense a point shared by both the old mastersand Sueharu Fukami. They all make sacrifices inorder to perfect the skills and techniques neededto make their masterpieces. They all look at thefinished products with unflinching eyes, allowingno mistakes and lapses in execution. They allattempt and reach a level of art that cannot failto astound art lovers from any culture around ourworld.This, in the end, is what I appreciate about Fukami’sworks. There is a timelessness and universality tohis objects that is present in all truly great pieces3

Sueharu Fukami: Visionsfrom the Shards of Sennyūji1. IntroductionHow can we describe the art of Sueharu Fukami?His remarkable porcelain sculptures have beencompared to samurai swords, ocean waves, spacecraft,and warrior helmets; to wind-tunnel-shapedrace cars, horizon lines, headrests, sword scabbards,floating feathers, falling leaves, and birdwings. Great efforts have been made to describethe works through references to the physicalworld, to understand the works in terms of somethingconcrete, especially through objects thathave a connection to Japan’s history, culture, andtraditions.This urge to describe is also reflected in the artist’stitles, which tend to express remote, poetic connectionsto natural phenomena, such as DistantOcean, Seascape, Distant View, and Space.Fukami, however, distances himself from specificphysical interpretations for individual works,and describes his inspirations as being partlyvisual and partly sensual in nature: he has oftenmentioned, for example, childhood memoriesof Tōfukuji Temple roof outlines as an influence,in addition to his experiences of sharp winterwinds on ocean shores and views of spectacularmountain scenery. He has repeatedly rejectedculturally-specific interpretations, such as samuraiswords, and instead sees his work as having beenconceived through universal ideas.Looking through the artist’s interpretations, arethese works then distant ocean waves, templeroofs, or freezing winds cutting through the winterair? And could the act of describing be madeeasier by reducing the sculptures to any oneobject or idea? There is undeniably somethingabout Fukami’s works that invites the viewer tosimiles—but while some objects might look likespecific things (such as horizon lines or evensamurai swords), others do not fit into such mentalpigeonholes. There is clearly something at workhere that is larger and more complex than any ofthese descriptive strategies.Rather than using references to specific cultures,traditions or representative forms, Fukami insiststhat the objects are abstract in meaning andmade as distant as possible from any one cultureor tradition. Fukami has also spoken of beinginspired as a young man by fellow artists, a selectgroup that includes Japanese potters working inabstract forms, such as Yagi Kazuo (1918–1979)and the Sōdeisha potters, as well as non-Japanesesculptors and ceramicists, such as the Italianartist Carlo Zauli (1926–2002). 1How then are we to understand his works and towhat degree can we accept the words of artistsand their interpretations? As stated above, manyhave responded by trying to see Fukami’s worksin terms of objects from their own past, or to apreconceived understanding of the artist, basedon his culture: hence the many attempts to tie theobjects to distinctly Japanese cultural phenomena,such as samurai swords and scabbards.The objects, however, go distinctly beyond a traditionallyJapanese cultural interpretation. Whencompared, for example, to ceramic objects madeby other contemporary Japanese artists, sayTsujimura Shirō or even Raku Kichizaemon XV, wesee objects that immediately announce connectionsto a widely understood Japanese identity.When compared with such pieces, it is clear that1 The Sōdeisha (Society for Mud Crawling) was established in 1949 and included, in addition to Yagi, the artists Yamada Hikaru (1924–2001)and Suzuki Osamu (1926–2001). For a comparison between the works of Fukami and Zauli, see Maezaki Shinya, »Fukami Sueharu,Ceramic Sculptor.« Ceramic Arts and Perception 63 (2006), 4–8.5

Fukami’s objects are in a different category altogetherand that they aim for more universal ideas.Must we then have concrete markers in order tounderstand these works? And why do we needto tie the abstract to something concrete in orderto understand them? We may well ask what itis that drives us toward using such markers ofmemory. Is the process of understanding helpedor hindered by linking the sculptures to objectsof memory? What do we gain from using concreteobjects as comparisons? Is it necessary to thinkof a conch shell when we see Sydney’s OperaHouse?For a closer understanding of Fukami’s works, Ibelieve it is more useful to look beyond titles andspecific interpretations of objects and instead toexamine the background of the artist and his culturalcontexts. Although Fukami clearly and deliberatelyindicates the direction of his art and insistson the lack of connections to Japanese ceramictraditions and lineages of potters working in Japan—or anywhere in the world, for that matter—westill should examine these claims through the contextsof his own background.Fukami’s connections to abstract artists such asYagi Kazuo and the Sōdeisha are often mentionedand there is an unmistakable debt to these earlypost-war Kyoto artists, especially so in his early,more experimental art. He himself has said thathe felt a close connection to (literally, he uses theword akogare, or »yearning for«) the Sōdeishaartists and such a connection is also visible in hisearly work. 2 If one looks, however, at the workthat has made him famous, the abstract seihakujior qingbai-glaze porcelains that became his soleproject after his early thirties, few points of comparisonremain.On comparing Fukami’s early work with anobject that is most often brought out as a comparison,that is, Yagi Kazuo’s iconic Mr Samsa’sWalk (Zamuza-shi no sampō) of 1954, the objectsshare a playful abstraction in form that incorporatesbasic geometric shapes; in Yagi’s case, therepeated circle, large and small. 3 Key differencesappear in the details: Yagi’s surfaces are solidlygrounded in the century-old traditions of theJapanese potter: we see the patterns of the traditionalwood ash glaze, the traces of the potter’swheel, and the seamless connections betweenthe individual parts. While Yagi’s work is abstractand modern, it is nonetheless created firmlywithin the frames of the traditional Japaneseceramic world. We may well ask ourselves whetherthe work of Fukami shares similar roots.2. Not traditional, but historicalFirst of all, what are we to make of the materialsthat Fukami uses in his works? The late work iscomposed of porcelains covered with a light blueglaze, the seihakuji, a type of porcelain with historicalroots in the qingbai porcelains of the Songperiod. The qingbai (»blue-white«) porcelainswere created at Jingdezhen kilns and were widelyfamous for their clear white porcelain body andelegant pale blue glaze.2 See, for example, Fukami’s interview with Okuno Kenichi: »Fukami Sueharu: Seihaku no ji ni kūkan o gyōshimeru.« Glass & Art 1995,11 (Autumn, 1995), 80–7.3 For an illustration and discussion of this object, see Louise Cort and Bert Winther-Tamaki, Isamu Noguchi and Modern JapaneseCeramics: A Close Embrace of the Earth. Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2003, 168–71. For an analysisof the role of Yagi Kazuo in modern Japanese ceramics, see Bert Winther-Tamaki, »Yagi Kazuo: The Admission of the NonfunctionalObject into the Japanese Pottery World.« Journal of Design History 12, 2 (1999), 123–41.6

The essayist Masahiko Shibatsuji suggested in a2002 article that Fukami, by choosing this ancientmodel, created work that is »not traditional, buthistorical.« 4 That is, Fukami makes a clear breakwith Japanese ceramic traditions of the midtwentiethcentury—especially the mingei folkmovement, by potters such as Hamada Shōji—andgoes back to the Song and Yuan periods China,taking as his inspiration the historical qingbaiporcelains. The artist has thus received historicalChinese techniques and aesthetics unrelatedto his own Japanese background. Moreover, hehas applied this model to abstract shapes bornentirely of his own inspiration, rejecting Japaneseceramic traditions.homes to bring good fortune. Numerous otherpotters of his generation made the trip from theceramic centers of Seto and Kyūshū to Kyoto inorder to establish kilns in the Sennyuji potteryarea, a relatively new area for Kiyomizu warecreated at a later time than the more traditionalKiyomizu centers of Gojōzaka and Awataguchi.Sueharu Fukami’s father and his elder brother,Takehisa, then reinvented themselves as makersof fine, hand-painted porcelain vessels for kaisekifood ceremonies, creating sets of exquisite tailormadeobjects for the top-tier restaurants and inns(such as the Hiiragiya Inn) of Kyoto. In his old age,Fukami’s father become an active member in thesalons of Kyoto and cultivated connections to thecontemporary cultural world.3. Biography of the artistYet the situation may be much more complexthan a simple borrowing from the Song period.In order for us to ascertain the usefulness of thehistorical theory, it becomes necessary to lookmore closely at the artist’s personal background.Sueharu Fukami was born as the sixth child toa family with strong connections to ceramics. Hisfather Yoshiichi Fukami came from a village ofpotters near the ancient ceramic city of Seto, inpresent-day Aichi Prefecture. The father was asecond son and thus had to search for a way tomake his living. He sought to escape the limitationsand competition of the Seto communityand moved to Kyoto in the boom years beforethe Second World War. Here he first worked inanother ceramic workshop before establishinghis own kiln, Fukami Ryōsen, which first specializedin making Fukusuke figures, ceramic figurestraditionally placed in shops and merchantInto this family Sueharu Fukami was born as thethird son, a fortuitous act that released him fromthe onerous duties of elder sons. His two olderbrothers, Takehisa and Naokatsu, worked in thefamily kiln under the strict eyes of their father,while Sueharu, as the third son, was free to followhis own path. Here it is helpful to remember thecontexts within which Fukami was born and grewup. The Sennyūji ceramic area, placed betweenthe venerable temples of Sennyūji and Tōfukuji,was and remains a distinct neighborhood of potterson the outskirts of central Kyoto. Sueharu’schildhood and youth were spent in constantcontact with ceramics: even the dirt roads of thearea were covered with multicolored potteryand porcelain shards, discarded from nearbykilns. Periodically, the large communal noborigamaclimbing kilns would belch out heavy,black smoke over the area, and the daily life ofthe pottery community would be punctuated byperiods of intensive activity when the large kilnsneeded to be loaded or unloaded as quickly as4 See Shibatsuji Masahiko. »Fukami Sueharu: Dentō no seihakuji o chōyaku saseta tenpu no zae.« In Shibatsuji Masahiko and YonezawaAritsune, eds. Geijutsu no setsuri, fukashi no katachi ni semaru sakkatachi. Kyoto and Tokyo: Tankōsha, 2002, 197–213.7

possible. 5 Communal and family conversation wascentered on ceramics: for the brothers workingin the family shop, for the father as its head, andfor the large group of helpers working withinits confines—this in a kiln that was surrounded byover one hundred other kilns, all worked on bygroups of potters, mainly from either Seto orKyūshū areas, from families with various traditionsof ceramic production.Fukami learned his trade in his home, in the neighborhood,and in his schools. He first started outas a porcelain artist and initially did very well, withan early acceptance into the Nitten Exhibition(The Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) at the remarkableage of twenty. This early success was followed bysetbacks, and his two subsequent entries failedto gain acceptance into the prestigious venue. Hewent through numerous changes: he first experimentedwith porcelain objects, then switchedover to pottery, going through a large number ofobject types. For a while, he deliberately modeledhimself on the popular Yagi Kazuo and his Sōdeishagroup. Some of the objects from this period are,in fact, very close to the work of these artists. 6The period of Fukami’s twenties was also a periodof social unrest in Japan and other places, withviolent student protests, the ongoing Vietnam War,the Apollo moon landing, and the hippie movement,with abstract expressionism and the newrock music becoming leading art forms. Reflectingthe instability of the period, Fukami’s work tookon a wide range of expression. Some of Fukami’sworks took on specific political meaning, such asthe remarkable The Artist, Buried in Information(Jōhō ni maibotsu sareta watashi) of 1973, a potterycylindrical vessel with a small seated potteryfigure in the center, representing the artist buriedunder the weight of information bearing downfrom all sides: the sides of the vessel are impressedwith a jumble of printed information, includingalmanac entries, newspaper articles, train schedules,and obituaries. The latter humorously announcethe death and funeral services of the youngartist, Sueharu Fukami. 7At other times, his work took on a poetic, whimsicalnature, such as the The Dream of the Picture Book(Ehon no yume) of 1972, a pottery book that opensto reveal a blue-and-white porcelain balloon, onwhich Fukami asked his seven-year-old niece todraw pictures of popular animated characters. 8The relentless experimentation of this decadereveals Fukami’s ultimate dissatisfaction withhis many different directions. He felt in the endthat he had only succeeded in creating ephemeralwork that connected with local issues and contemporarypolitics. The various directions he triedwere eventually products of their time and rep-5 The traces of the discontinued communal noborigama kilns can still be traced on the maps of the area by the location of later structures.The noborigama kilns were outlawed within city limits in 1974, due to their intensely polluting smoke. The individual potters werethen forced to create their own individual kilns, powered by either propane or electricity, reflecting the present situation of the district.6 See images of his earlier work in Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center, ed., Genesis of a Genius: TheEarly Ceramics of Fukami Sueharu. Hanford, CA: Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center, 2003. The Institute,renamed as the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture, is the single most important repository of objects and documents related tothe work of Sueharu Fukami. It contains, among numerous other objects, most of the earlier work of the artist. See also article by MaezakiShinya. »Chasing Perfection.« In Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center, ed., Genesis of a Genius: The EarlyCeramics of Fukami Sueharu. Hanford, CA: Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center, 2003, 7–27.7 For image, see ibid, page 10.8 His niece, Chikako Fukami, still remembers her excitement in actually being encouraged to draw on the clay, something that was usuallyonly done by adults working in the kiln. For image, see ibid, page 9.8

esented echoes of objects and ideas createdby other artists. For the perfectionist artist theylacked appeal: Fukami continually sought to createworks that were uniquely his own; works thathad universal appeal and a permanence of vision.His wife, Chieko Fukami, may have played a rolein her husband’s eventual decision to concentrateon seihakuji porcelain. She had arrived atthe family kiln at a young age as an apprentice,and had worked together with Sueharu Fukami increating different types of objects. With his help,she created a new type of bowl and tray, smallporcelain vessels with sharp geometric edgesand forms, with thick applications of light celadonglaze that exposed white porcelain at the edges.She submitted these objects under her name toceramic competitions and won prizes for them.This was perhaps a prod in the right direction forSueharu Fukami as well, for the pieces created byChieko in collaboration with Sueharu Fukami resemblethe future seihakuji objects in form, color,and idea—if not in scale.Another factor was Fukami’s decision to moveaway from the somewhat claustrophobic ceramiccommunity of Sennyūji. He built a house on anempty lot by a bamboo grove on a green, grassyhillside in the Fushimi area and started producinghis own works. The move was intended to marka clear break with his past, from the communalatmosphere of the Sennyūji ceramic world intoindependence. He developed a new kiln, experimentedwith a new glaze, developed new techniques,and created radically different objects.With his wife, he went through endless experimentations,and, with his brother Naokatsu’s help,finally settled on the pressured slip casting thatturned into the main technical element of his newcreations. 9 In the end, through much restlesssearch, repeated failures and experimentation, hefinally stretched the material to, literally, its breakingpoint. He has exerted greater challenges tothe medium of porcelain than probably any otherceramic artist and created objects of startlingoriginality and vision.4. The Artist as an ArtisanRevisiting the phrase by Shibatsuji on whetherFukami’s art is informed by tradition or history,we see Fukami removing himself from the tradition-centeredworld of Sennyūji potters in bothphysical and metaphorical senses, by setting upan independent atelier and by creating porcelainson his own with techniques that he learnedthrough experimentation.Yet, although Fukami’s works have points of connectionto the millennia-old Chinese art form,there is clearly more at work. In the case of Fukami,as is often the case with cultural connectionsin art, there is a sense of multiple receptions: theartist has made a series of careful choices fromboth the past and the present and no one singlesource can be singled out as a unique factor. Afterall, Fukami himself has indicated a wide rangeof influences including sensations on viewinglandscapes, reading abstract ideas, and viewingsculptural artists.9 Naokatsu was in charge of this technique at the family kiln and had used it for creating chopstick stands for use in expensive restaurants.For a closer discussion of Sueharu Fukami’s unique technique and overall production method, see Matsuyama Tatsuo. »FukamiSueharu.« Hono’o Geijutsu 94 (Summer 2008), 70–7; Maezaki Shinya. »Chasing Perfection.« In Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for JapaneseArt at the Clark Center, ed., Genesis of a Genius: The Early Ceramics of Fukami Sueharu. Hanford, CA: Ruth and Sherman Lee Institutefor Japanese Art at the Clark Center, 2003, 7–27; and Würmell, Core. »Die japanische Gegenwartskeramik zwischen Moderne undTradition: Fukami Sueharu und Tsujimura Shirō, Zusammentreffen künstlerrischer Vision und technischer Meisterschaft zweier Keramikkünstlerder Gegenwart.« MA Thesis, University of Heidelberg, 2006.9

Fukami adapted the Chinese qingbai glaze andits sense of sharpness, the silky whiteness of theporcelain, the textile sense of the edges, and thethinning of the glaze at the edge where a pristinewhite ground appears—all this is very much partof both qingbai porcelains and the Fukami pieces.Yet the forms are no longer the same. Fukamistates that the early qingbai forms reached theirperfection in the Song, leaving him to go in newdirections. These are then directions that owemore to contemporary artists—ceramic, sculptural,and others—of the twentieth century than theydo to Song-period China.How then does his search for new directionsrelate to his own background, and to what degreedoes he make a clean break with his own past inorder to seek out connection to a historical past?And how did he as an artist negotiate the balancebetween rebellion and acceptance, betweennew and old, between innovation and tradition?It is important here to remember the complex specializationswithin the world of Japanese ceramics.There were many people working concurrently indifferent fields and traditions. Fukami’s family kilnhad, for example, no connections to the mingeistylekilns and the so-called folk artists, such asHamada Shōji or, more close to home, KawaiKanjirō, who worked a few kilometers away in theGojōzaka area. Nor was the kiln one of the traditionalKyoto tea-related families, such as theline of Raku Kichizaemon XV, creating select andcostly objects for the tea ceremony. Nor did ithave connections to the cheap, daily porcelainsthat are still mass produced at ceramic centers inKyūshū or Seto, using stamps and machine-producedstencils for quick, high-volume production.And finally, it was not one of the houses specializingin the creation of sencha ceramics, such asthe Chikusen kiln.Rather, the family specialized in the creation ofporcelains in underglaze blue for restaurants andluxury inns, and this is the tradition that shouldform the basis of comparisons with Fukami’swork. 10 The family kiln porcelains were createdwith remarkable precision, and were designed tobe used as sets of objects in luxury settings. Theprecision is all the more remarkable when oneremembers the shrinkage in the firing process andthe fact that some of the objects are composedof sections that contract at different rates. All thedetails were done by hand, every stroke of theoften extensive designs, every curve of the clay.In order to accomplish this remarkable feat, thepotters use complex sets of tools, carved bamboosticks, and other traditional tools (looking at thepotter’s working space one realizes their greatlove of such tools) to measure the sizes, shrinkageand other details. The competition in theceramic field was and remains vigorous and thusthe standards had to be very high, with thesmallest slip in line or execution causing an objectto be relegated to the piles of ceramic shardsthat once littered the roads.No artist can be born in a vacuum, and the birthof the artistic genius of Fukami Sueharu is in largedegree due to his birth and upbringing within thecontexts of the Sennyūji pottery district and thefamily kiln. And indeed, several points of similaritycan be seen between the family kiln and the artistFukami; for example, in Fukami’s extreme attentionto detail. Fukami will hone and re-hone hissurfaces endlessly and the extensive time it takes10 The kiln has also created works in celadon and overglaze colors in response to special orders and has at times produced senchaceramics. The kiln has also attracted attention through numerous television documentaries. In 1996, Takehisa Fukami was recognized bythe national government with the official title of Master of Traditional Arts (dentō kōgeishi) for his life-long work with Kiyomizu ware. TheFukami Ryōsen kiln has also taken part in numerous exhibitions, including a 1997 porcelain exhibit in Paris.10

him to prepare and whittle down objects to sizeand the great care taken to prepare the exactshades of glaze for the objects have no relationto mundane factors such as customer deadlinesor the final cost of the objects. There is absolutelyno leeway for failure: objects with the slightestdefect are immediately thrown away, adding tothe pile of shards outside the artist’s atelier. Whilethe motive for the production of Fukami’s art is nolonger centered on commercial success, the artistand the family kiln share an absolutely uncompromisingview of perfection.Despite Fukami’s adherence to the Western cultof the artist as a reclusive individual, he worksclosely with a group of specialists, reflecting theemphasis on communal production within thefamily kiln. Fukami’s wife, Chieko, also a ceramicartist in her own right, remains a constant partnerin the creative process and construction of theworks. The basic technique that Fukami uses, pressurizedinjection of liquid clay, is one that he developedwith his brother, a specialist in the process.Fukami also works with other accomplished artistsand technicians who create the wood andmetal parts for the stands of the finished works.All these are masters of their own fields, workingclosely with Fukami to create the optimal work ofart. Here, attention to material, color, and form isabsolute and nothing is left to chance. 11 Throughthe various specialists, Fukami seeks absolutecontrol of the object and its immediate surroundings.Even his seals have been carved by an expertKorean seal carver, and Fukami’s complex systemof different seals (outlined on page 76 in an appendix)symbolize the level of control that heimposes on his works of art and their immediatecontexts.Another aspect of Fukami’s art that reveals theinfluence of his family background is his balancebetween individual expression and seriality. Thisbalance comes through more clearly in some objectsthan others—such as the calendar boxes ofhis youth and the incense burners and cylindricalvessels of his later years. While similar, each piecein these series is unique. The larger objects arealmost always created in small editions, usuallytwo to eight pieces. Due to the intensive processof honing, there is, in the end, a great degree ofindividual variation, yet the objects are nonethelesscreated in editions.Fukami’s love of tools also reflects his backgroundin the artisan worlds of the family kiln. Fukamisearches out the various tools for his remarkabletechniques, and has collected tools from Japan,the USA and Germany so that he is able to respondwith the correct tool for any aspect of thework. His love of tools and machines reflects, onone hand, a legacy of twentieth century aesthetics,but, on the other, a relationship to Kyoto porcelainpotters, and to their love of precision.Finally, the oft-repeated refusal by Fukami to leaveany traces of human hands on his objects isrightly seen as an important difference betweenhim and other folk-art influenced potters, suchas Tsujimura Shirō. The refusal to leave traces ofthe hand is also a point that he holds in commonwith his family kiln and their finely producedmatched sets of porcelain. Here individualityand spontaneity would have been detrimental tothe final product—the aim was to create objectsthat in their perfection came as close as possibleto the appearance of having been produced bymachines, while in fact created by hand. In thisaspect as well, Fukami’s work can be placed11 The wood, for example, is carefully chosen and comes from a luxury wood dealer in Shikoku who, according to Fukami, was also usedby the Japanese-American furniture artist George Nakashima for some of his works.11

within the family shokunin, or artisan tradition, andplaced as a stark contrast to the traditions of thetea and mingei artists.Although the objects created by Fukami and hisfamily kiln seem, at first glance, radically different,important connections do exist between the two.In fact, the study of these connections becomesimportant for a closer understanding of the artistand his background and art. The technique used,the approach to production, the perfection, andthe idea of seriality are all aspects of the familytradition of porcelain production that lives withinhis art as well. While historical aspects of his art,especially the connection to Song dynasty qingbaiporcelains, do exist as a factor, many of the importantaspects of the daily production of artworkcome, in fact, from the childhood and youth spentin the family kiln in the Sennyūji ceramic community.The work of Fukami could not exist withoutthe family traditions of porcelain production.5. Creating Tea BowlsGoing back to Yagi Kazuo and the Sōdeishapotters, Yagi himself came from a similar potterycommunity and created greatly innovative worksof abstraction, justly receiving international attentionfor his art. He famously said that he is »just atea bowl maker.« (»Uchira chawanya desse«).Yet these are, of course, the words of someonewho clearly does not see himself as a tea bowlmaker and knows very well that he has gonebeyond the level and fame of ordinary tea bowlpotters of his neighborhood (who, in any case,did not call themselves chawanya »tea bowl makers«at this time).Yagi’s ironic expression was at the expense ofthe artisans still at work in his boyhood areas,and spoken in the secure knowledge that he hadgone very much beyond the work of artisans.At the same time, he bore a deep debt to thecommunity of potters around him. Without theirtraditions, their expertise, and their techniques—developed by a community working togetherover generations—there would not have been thebackground necessary for an artist such as Yagito emerge. Had there been no Kiyomizu potterydistrict there would also have been no YagiKazuo. His ironic statement may well mask hisknowledge of the deep connections between hissuccess and the potters around him.For Fukami, too, the connections to the potterydistrict that bore him into the world is at the heartof what he is and does: in the daily techniques,in his outlook to the production, in his expertise,and in numerous other ways. He, like Yagi, bearsa deep debt (and ambivalence) to his roots inthe traditions of Japanese ceramic production, adebt that reaches beyond the physical distancebuilt between Fushimi and the ceramic center ofhis upbringing.As with any original contemporary artist, Fukamihas received a large number of influences—ancient to modern. It makes sense to think of theabstraction of his works in terms of ideas bothold and new, of both history and tradition. Fukamiis not merely an artist of design. He is also ahighly developed technician working within thephysical bounds of his medium—and seeking toexpand these from within. He is in fact taking theobject as far away from the accepted technicalrange of the medium as possible, bringing his artinto entirely new directions.12 The author gratefully acknowledges the help of his father-in-law, Takehisa Fukami, Sueharu Fukami, and other members of the Fukamifamily. The views expressed in this essay are entirely his own.12

Looking at the works themselves, there is somethingin them that transcends both the past andthe present, and takes the viewer, no matter whathis associations, to another level of experience.This, I would argue, is the transcending experienceof great art—and this is what brings out theindividual urges in viewers to understand andcompare the works to memories of other experiences.Through the sublime poetry of form andcolor, the objects seem to detach themselvesfrom their contexts and present us with the purepoetry of artistic expression. The questions of thematerial and the artist’s culture and biography arestill present, but only as footnotes to the soaringvision of Fukami’s works in pale blue porcelain. 12Hans Bjarne ThomsenUniversity of Zurich13

1遙 カ ノ 景 Ⅰ Haruka no kei IDistant View I, 1995H 74" × W 17 ¾" × D 15 ¾"(188 cm × 45 cm × 40 cm)14

2遙 カ ノ 景 Ⅱ Haruka no kei IIDistant View II, 1992H 69 ¾" × W 19" × D 17"(177 cm × 48 cm × 43 cm)16

3毅 ノ 時 Ki no tokiResolute Spirit, 2007H 68" × W 15" × D 13 ¾"(173 cm × 38 cm × 34.8 cm)18

4飾 香 炉 ‹ 冴 › Kazari kōro ‹ sae ›Display Incense Burner ‹ Clear ›, 1992H 31 ¼" × W 8 ¾" × D 8 ¾" (79.5 cm × 22 cm × 22 cm)20

5清 キ ノ 想 イ Ⅲ Kiyoki no omoi IIIClear Memory III, 1998H 25" × W 17" × D 8 ½" (63.3 cm × 43 cm × 21.4 cm)22

6青 白 磁 陶 筒 ‹ 澄 › Seihakuji tōzutsu ‹ chō ›Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Cylinder ‹ Ascend ›, 2000H 16 ¼" × W 7 ¾" × D 7" (41.5 cm × 19.45 cm × 18 cm)24

8青 白 磁 陶 筒 ‹ 清 › Seihakuji tōzutsu ‹ sei ›Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Cylinder ‹ Pure ›, 2007H 6 ½" × Dia 3 ½" (16.5 cm × 8.9 cm)28

9青 白 磁 流 線 花 瓶 Seihakuji ryūsen kabinPale-blue Glaze Porcelain Streamlined Vase, 1979H 10 ¼" × W 5 ½" × D 5" (26.3 cm × 14 cm × 13 cm)30

10青 白 磁 花 瓶 ‹ 尖 › Seihakuji kabin ‹ sen ›Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Vase ‹ Point ›, 1976H 8 ¼" × Dia 8 ½" (21.2 cm × 21.5 cm)32

11白 磁 水 滴 Hakuji suitekiWhite Glaze Porcelain Water Dropper, 1977H 2" × Dia 2 ½" (4.9 cm × 6.3 cm)34

12青 白 磁 ぐい 呑 Seihakuji guinomiPale-blue Glaze Porcelain Sake Cup, 2006H 1 ¾" × W 3 ¼" × D 3" (4.2 cm × 8 cm × 7.5 cm)36

13海 景 Ⅱ Kaikei IISeascape II, 2007H 4 ½" × Dia 10"(11.5 cm × 25.5 cm)38

14盤 ‹ 海 景 › Ban ‹ kaikei ›Tray ‹ Seascape ›, 2008H 2 ¾" × Dia 23 ½" (7.1 cm × 60 cm)40

15清 清 SeiseiRefresh, 2003H 12 ¼" × W 26 ¼" × D 25 ¾"(31 cm × 66.5 cm × 65.3 cm)42

16清 清 SeiseiRefresh, 2007H 15 ¾" × W 22 ¾" × D 22 ¼"(39.8 cm × 58 cm × 56.5 cm)44

17青 白 磁 香 爐 ‹ 遙 › Seihakuji kōro ‹ haruka ›Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Incense Burner ‹ Distant ›, 1999H 5" × Dia 3 ¾" (12.8 cm × 9.7 cm)46

18青 白 磁 香 爐 ‹ 遙 › Seihakuji kōro ‹ haruka ›Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Incense Burner ‹ Distant ›, 1999H 3 ¾" × W 3" × D 2 ¾" (9.5 cm × 7.7 cm × 6.7 cm)48

19青 白 磁 香 爐 ‹ 翔 › Seihakuji kōro ‹ shō ›Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Incense Burner ‹ Soar ›, 1999H 8 ½" × W 9" × D 3 ½" (21.7 cm × 22.6 cm × 8.8 cm)50

20青 白 磁 飾 香 爐 ‹ 清 › Seihakuji kazari kōro ‹ sei ›Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Display Incense Burner ‹ Clear ›, 2000H 7 ¼" × W 6" × D 5" (18.2 cm × 15.4 cm × 12.5 cm)52

21香 合 ‹ 清 々 › Kōgō ‹ seisei ›Incense Box ‹ Refresh ›, 2007H 1 ½" × W 2 ¼" × D 2 ¼" (4 cm × 6 cm × 6 cm)54

22香 合 ‹ 清 々 › Kōgō ‹ seisei ›Incense Box ‹ Refresh ›, 2008H 2" × W 3 ¼" × D 2 ¾" (5.3 cm × 8 cm × 6.7 cm)56

23遠 望 ‹ 景 › Enbō ‹ kei ›Distant Hope ‹ View ›, 2007H 8 ¼" × L 17" × D 3 ¾" (20.8 cm × 43.2 cm × 9.7 cm)58

24遙 カ ノ 海 景 Haruka no kaikeiDistant Seascape, 1987H 5 ½" × L 20 ½" × D 2 ¼" (14 cm × 51.9 cm × 5.4 cm)60

25遠 望 ノ 景 ‹ 想 › Enbō no kei ‹ sō ›View of Distant Hope ‹ Thought ›, 1993H 8 ¾" × L 49" × D 5 ¼" (22.3 cm × 124.3 cm ×13.6 cm)62

26翔 ShōSoar, 2007H 13" × L43 ½" × D 10"(33 cm × 110.5 cm × 25.5 cm)64

27空 Ⅱ Kū IISky II, 2006H 11" × L 37 ¾" × D 8 ¾"(28 cm × 96 cm × 22cm)66

28天 空 ‹ 翔 › Tenkū ‹ shō ›Sky Space ‹ Soar ›, 2007H 9" × L 33 ¾" × D 3 ¾"(23 cm × 86 cm × 9.6 cm)68

29心 象 ‹ 空 › Shinshō ‹ kū ›Image of the Mind ‹ Sky ›, 2007H 11" × L 47 ½" × D 10" (28 cm × 121 cm × 25.5 cm)70

30風 ノ 海 景 Kaze no kaikeiWindy Seascape, 2008H 12 ½" × L 65 ¼" × D 10 ¾"(32 cm × 165.5 cm × 27 cm)72

NotesNr. 1 Distant View ISigned S. Fukami. Mounted on a granite stand.Nr. 2 Distant View IISigned S. Fukami and numbered 1/8. Mountedon a granite stand. This very piece was exhibitedin Tokyo in 1992 at the exhibition »The Nowin Japanese Ceramics – Message from Artistsin Kyoto« and is illustrated in Kyoto Shoin, TohSeries, vol. 81, 1993, p. 28. It is one of the first tallsculptures Fukami made. Its production was sodifficult that only two of the edition were made.Nr. 3 Resolute SpiritSigned S. Fukami and numbered 6/8. Mountedon a walnut base.Nr. 4 Display Incense Burner ‹ Clear ›,Signed S. Fukami and numbered 2/10. Mountedon a walnut base. The lid made of tin is signed bythe metal artist. Comes with the original kiri-woodtomobako box and the original protective clothbearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 5 Clear Memory IIISigned S. Fukami and numbered 4/5. Stands on abeveled walnut base. Comes with a fitted box.Nr. 9 Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Streamlined VaseSigned Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalwood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 10 Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Vase ‹ Point ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalwood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 11 White Glaze Porcelain Water DropperImpressed seal mark Sueharu on the bottom.Comes with the original sugi-wood tomobakobox and the original protective cloth bearing theround seal mark Fuka.Nr. 12 Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Sake CupSigned Sue on the bottom. Comes with theoriginal kiri-wood tomobako box and the originalprotective cloth bearing the small rectangularseal mark Fukami.Nr. 13 Seascape IISigned S. Fukami. Mounted on a walnut stand.Comes with the original kiri-wood tomobako boxand the original protective cloth bearing the ovalseal mark Fukami.Nr. 6 Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Cylinder ‹ Ascend ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 7 Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Cylinder ‹ Wind ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalprotective cloth bearing the oval seal markFukami.Nr. 8 Pale-blue Glaze Porcelain Cylinder ‹ Pure ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 14 Tray ‹ Seascape ›Signed S. Fukami and Sue. Mounted on threewalnut feet. Comes with the original kiri-woodtomobako box and the original protective clothbearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 15 RefreshSigned Sue on the bottom. Comes with theoriginal kiri-wood tomobako box and the originalprotective cloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Was exhibited in Japan in 2003 at the thirdannual »21st Century Exhibition of Japanese Art«and is illustrated in the accompanying catalog.74

Nr. 16 RefreshSigned Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalprotective cloth bearing the oval seal markFukami. Was exhibited in Tokyo, Japan in 2007 atthe 19th biennial »Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition«and is illustrated in the accompanying catalog, p.46.Nr. 17 Incense Burner ‹ Distant ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 18 Incense Burner ‹ Distant ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 23 Distant Hope ‹ View ›Signed S. Fukami and numbered 6/8. Comeswith the original kiri-wood tomobako box andthe original protective cloth bearing the oval sealmark Fukami.Nr. 24 Distant SeascapeSigned S. Fukami and numbered 6/8. Mountedon a walnut stand. Comes with the original kiriwoodtomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 25 View of Distant Hope ‹ Thought ›Signed S. Fukami and numbered 1/10. Stands ona beveled walnut base. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 19 Incense Burner ‹ Soar ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the oval seal mark Fukami.Nr. 20 Display Incense Burner ‹ Clear ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box.Nr. 26 SoarSigned S. Fukami and numbered 3/8. Mountedon a solid walnut base.Nr. 27 Sky IISigned S. Fukami and numbered 4/8. Mountedon a solid walnut base. Only 4 were made of thisedition.Nr. 21 Incense Box ‹ Refresh ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Glazed on the insideand gilt along the rim and on two dots to indicatethe correct alignment. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the small rectangular seal markFukami.Nr. 28 Sky Space ‹ Soar ›Signed S. Fukami. Mounted on a solid walnutbase.Nr. 29 Image of the Mind ‹ Sky ›Signed S. Fukami and numbered 7/8. Mountedon a solid walnut base.Nr. 22 Incense Box ‹ Refresh ›Signed Sue on the bottom. Glazed on the insideand gilt along the rim and on two dots to indicatethe correct alignment. Comes with the originalkiri-wood tomobako box and the original protectivecloth bearing the small rectangular seal markFukami.Nr. 30 Windy SeascapeSigned S. Fukami and numbered 2/5. Mountedon a solid walnut base. Only two were made fromthis edition. The other one is in the collection ofThe Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture inHanford, California.75

The Seals of Sueharu FukamiFukami’s seal system.Three types of seals:Fukami uses three different groups of seals. Thefirst group are seals he uses for the yellow protectivecloths that he places in his tomobako woodboxes; these are impressed with a Fukami ( 深 見 )seal. The second group of seals are the largersquare box seals; these are always inscribed withhis given name, Sueharu ( 陶 治 ). The third groupare the small seals that he usually also impresseson his boxes to accompany the larger Sueharuseals. These read Hinoto no i ( 丁 亥 ), the zodiac yearof his birth. As the artist explains it, the threetogether give all the vital information of the artist:his first name, his family name, and the year of hisbirth. In other words, it makes sense to think ofthe three seals as forming a unit.All illustrated seals are one of the these three typesA 「 深 見 」FukamiB 「 陶 治 」SueharuC 「 丁 亥 」Hinoto no iRegarding type C, in the East Asian zodiac systemthese two characters denote a year that occursonly once in a sixty-year cycle. Thus, this year canbe read or correspond to 1887, 1947, or 2007.His two sets of seals.All the seals that Fukami uses can further bedivided into two large groups, the ones he usedbefore his 50th birthday and the ones he hasused since. That year, 1997, he traveled to SouthKorea and replaced all his old seals with newones that were carved for him in that country. Sealimpressions for objects created after this yearare from this new Korean set of seals and fromother seals he subsequently had made.SignaturesTypically Fukami signs his pieces in Chinesecharacters, in Romanized characters, or in both.The smaller pieces, such as his incense burners,are usually inscribed with just the first characterof his given name Sue 陶 while the larger onesare signed with both characters Sueharu 陶 治 .His larger sculptures are typically signed inRomanized script S. Fukami.76

SealsReproduced actual sizeA Pre 1997A Pre 1997A Post 1997 A Post 1997B Nr. 2B Nr. 4B Nr. 6CB Nr. 8 CB Nr. 9CB Nr. 10CB Nr. 11CB Nr. 12C77

SealsReproduced actual sizeB Nr. 13B Nr. 14B Nr. 15B Nr. 17CB Nr. 18CB Nr. 19CB Nr. 20CB Nr. 21CB Nr. 22CB Nr. 23B Nr. 25B Nr. 24CC78

Box InscriptionsReproduced quarter size except as notedNr. 5 ½ sizeNr. 2Nr. 4Nr. 6Nr. 9Nr. 879

Box InscriptionsReproduced quarter size except as notedNr. 12Nr. 11Nr. 10Nr. 13 1 ⁄5 sizeNr. 14 1 ⁄5 size80

Nr. 16 1 ⁄1 sizeNr. 15Nr. 17 ½ sizeNr. 18 ½ size81

Box InscriptionsReproduced quarter sizeNr. 21Nr. 20Nr. 25Nr. 19Nr. 24Nr. 22Nr. 2382

Biography of the Artist1947 Born in Kyoto, Japan1963 Kyoto Ceramics Training School1965 Kyoto Arts and Crafts Training Center1975 Marries Chieko1981 Invited as Visiting Professor to University ofAlberta, Canada1983 Birth of daughter, Tomoko1984 Judge, Kyoto Art Exhibition1990 Judge, Kyoto Art Exhibition1991 Judge, Concorso Internazionale dellaCeramica d’Arte (Faenza, Italy)1995 Judge, Triennale de la Porcelaine (Nyon,Switzerland)2002 Judge, 6th International Ceramics Competition(Mino, Japan)2005 Judge, Concorso Internazionale dellaCeramica d’Arte (Faenza, Italy)Currently resides in Kyoto, JapanSolo Exhibitions1977Odakyū Department Store, Tokyo1978Gallery Third Floor, Kyoto1979Hankyū Department Store, Osaka1980Asahi Gallery, Kyoto1982Gallery Nakamura, Kyoto1986Hetjens Museum, Düsseldorf, GermanyCompetition of International Ceramic Art,Faenza, Italy1987Aoyama Green Gallery, TokyoMusée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, SwitzerlandMaya Behn Gallery, SwitzerlandMuseum Voor Sierkunst en Industrielle,Ghent, BelgiumMaghi Bettini Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands1988Seibu Takanawakai, Tokyo1991Takanawa Art Salon, TokyoAoyama Green Gallery, Tokyo1992Gallery Yuri, Fukuoka1993Kochūkyo, Tokyo1995Aoyama Green Gallery, Tokyo1996Tenmaya, Hiroshima1997Kochūkyo, Tokyo1998Takanawa Art Salon, TokyoContemporary Ceramic Art, Kandori, Tokyo2000Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo2001Gallery Dōjima, Osaka2002Garth Clark Gallery, New York2003Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Artat the Clark Center, Hanford, USA2005International Museum of Ceramic Art,Faenza, Italy2008Erik Thomsen Asian Art, New York83

Group Exhibitions1967Kyoto Art ExhibitionKyoto Prefecture Arts and Crafts Exhibition1969Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition19711st Japanese Ceramic Art Exhibition,avant-garde section19732nd Japanese Ceramic Art Exhibition,avant-garde section1979The Contemporary Arts and Crafts of Japan2nd Contemporary Ceramicists in Kyoto, 1979and thereafter1980I.A.C. Miniature Exhibition(Kyoto Prefectural Center for Arts and Culture)Flower Arrangement and Ceramics Exhibition(Kintetsu Kyoto)1981I.A.C. Miniature Exhibition(Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris)1983Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition, General Section1st Exhibition of All Japan Traditional Crafts bySelected Artists (Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya)1984Ceramic Plaque 22 (Wako Hall, Tokyo)1985Exhibition of Selected Fine Arts(Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art)The Beauty of White Porcelain(The Kyūshū Ceramic Museum)The 3rd Biennale International Ceramic Chateauroux1986 (Musée Bertran, France)1986Clay - Image and Form(Seibu, Ōtsu and Yūrakuchō Art Forum, Tokyo)Sculpture Exhibition (Gallery Haku, Osaka)Asahi Contemporary Crafts ExhibitionContemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition of Japan(Gallery Kisaragi, Paris)Contemporary Japanese Ceramics Exhibition1987Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition – Ceramic Art onthe Desk (Shibuya Seibu, Tokyo)Small Sculpture Exhibition (Gallery Haku, Osaka)Exhibition of Selected Fine Arts (Kyoto MunicipalMuseum of Art)America / Eastern Europe Rotating Exhibit ofContemporary Japanese Ceramics(Sponsor: The Japan Foundation)1988Japan Traditional Arts and Crafts ExhibitionEastern Europe Rotating Exhibit of TraditionalJapanese Crafts (Sponsor: The Japan Foundation)Three Ceramic Artists Exhibition by French Ministryof Culture (Limoges, France)The Contemporary Japanese Ceramics(Portland Museum of Art, USA)Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition – Ceramic Art onthe Desk (Shibuya Seibu, Tokyo)Asahi Selected Ceramic Artists Exhibition(Nagoya and Tokyo)1989Europhilia, Céramiques de L’Ere Showa(Mons Musée des Beaux Arts, Belgium)Triennale de la Porcelaine, Invited Guest(Nyon, Switzerland)Artist of the Gallery Exhibition (Faenza, Italy)1992The Now in Japanese Ceramics – Message fromArtists in Kyoto: A Drama in Clay Enacted by TenClay Artists (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Yokohama)Contemporary in Ceramics (Kobe and Tokyo)La Céramique au Japon, Un Art Majeur: 58 CréateursContemporains (Paris)1993East-West Ceramic Sculpture (Germany)Exchange Exhibition between the Japanese andKorean Artists (Osaka Contemporary Art Center)84

Contemporary Ceramic Works – Utsuwa(The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama)Modern Japanese Ceramics in Japanese Collections(Japan Society Gallery, New York; New OrleansMuseum of Art; Honolulu Academy of Art)1994In Touch International Craft(Maihaugen, Lillehammer Olympics, Norway)Kyoto 1200th Anniversary Celebration Exhibition(Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art)Current Trends in Ceramics – Vessels and Objects(Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum)Clay Work (The National Museum of Art, Osaka)IAC Members’ Exhibition, International Academyof Ceramics (Prague, Czech Republic)1995Today Arts and Crafts in Kyoto(The Museum of Kyoto)Art in Kyoto: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,Sueharu Fukami and Atsuo Sakazume(Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art)Wind from Faenza (Ceratopia Toki, Gifu)Japanese Studio Craft: Tradition and the Avant-Garde (Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK)Kanazawa Art and Crafts ExhibitionContemporary Japanese Arts and Crafts Exhibition(Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg,Germany)IAC Members’ Exhibition, International Academyof Ceramics (Prague, Czech Republic)1996New Expression in Porcelain: Developments in1990s (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)IAC Members’ Exhibition, International Academyof Ceramics (Saga Prefectural Museum of Art)The Kyoto Art and Culture Awards Exhibition(The Museum of Kyoto)Quiet Clarity ›RIN‹: Beauty in ContemporaryCeramics (Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art,Shigaraki)The Suntory Prize Exhibition(Suntory Museum, Tokyo)1997Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition, Invited Artist Status,The Contemporary Teapot (Museum of InternationalCeramic Art, Grimmerhus, Denmark)1998A Joint Exhibition – the 11th Mokichi OkadaAward: a Decade History of Award Recipients andTheir Works (Museum of Art, Shizuoka)199950 Maîtres: Les Arts Appliqués dans le JaponContemporain (Paris, France)Artisti dal Mondo(International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy)Vessels for Sake, The First Tōbi Art Fair(Tokyo Art Club, Tokyo)2000Small Ceramic Sculpture(Kunstforum, Kirchberg, Switzerland)2001Leaders of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics(Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Shizuoka)2002Handicrafts Today – Six Kyoto Artists; Tradition inInnovation / Innovation in Tradition(Mie Prefectural Art Museum)Contemporary Japanese Crafts(Indonesia and Malaysia)Inaugual Exhibition, The Legacy of ModernCeramic Art, Part I: From Artisan to Artist, theEvolution of Japanese Ceramic Art(Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu)2003Now & Now – World Contemporary Ceramics(Ichon World Ceramic Center, South Korea)Japan – Ceramics and Photographs(Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany)Japanese Ceramics Today (Tomo Museum, Tokyo)Contemporary Japanese Ceramics (The TokyoMetropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo)Third annual 21st Century Exhibition of JapaneseArt (The Art Clubs of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto)85

2004Japanese Contemporary Ceramics(Museum of Modern Art, Gifu)2005Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for theNew Century (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)The Fascination of Ceramics: Masterpiecesof Modern Japanese Pottery from the GiselaFreudenberg Collection (Museum for Applied Art,Frankfurt, Germany)Transformations: The Language of Craft (NationalGallery of Australia)2006The Quintessence of Modern Japanese Ceramics(Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum)200719th biennial Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition, InvitedArtist Status (Tokyo and Osaka)Prizes1969Prize, Kansai Art Exhibition1972Prize, Kansai Art Exhibition1974Prize, Kyoto Prefecture Arts and Crafts ExhibitionPrize, Kansai Art Exhibition, 1974(Thereafter invited artist)1975Prize, Kyoto Prefecture Arts and Crafts Exhibition1976Prize, Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition1977Mayor’s Prize, Kyoto Art Exhibition1978Grand Prize, Kyoto Prefecture Art and CraftsExhibitionKyoto Newspaper Prize, Kyoto Art Exhibition1979Member’s Prize, 1st Annual Japan ContemporaryArts and Crafts ExhibitionMayor’s Prize, Kyoto Art Exhibtion, 1979(Thereafter invited artist)1980Newcomer Prize, Kyoto Prefectural Arts and CraftsExhibition1982Grand Prize at 10th Chūnichi InternationalCeramic Exhibition1983Govenor of Aichi Prefecture Prize, 11th ChūnichiInternational Ceramic Arts ExhibtionPurchase Prize, Kyoto Arts and Crafts Exhibition1984Special Selection Prize, NittenSecond Prize, 12th Chūnichi International CeramicArts ExhibitionPrize, Kyoto Artists’ Association Exhibition1985Grand Prize at 43rd Faenza International CeramicExhibitionGrand Prize at 13th Chūnichi InternationalCeramic ExhibitionPrize, Asahi Ceramic ExhibitionSankei Newspaper Prize, The Contemporary Artsand Crafts of Japan1986Bronze Prize, 1st Mino International CeramicExhibition1987Titograd Prize, World Triennale Exhibition ofSmall Ceramics, Yugoslavia1992Okada Shigekichi Merit Prize, MOA MuseumPrize, Japan Ceramic Association1995Prize, Kyoto Art and Culture Awards1996Prize, Mainichi Art Award1997Kyoto Prefecture Culture Prize86

Museum CollectionsAckland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC, USAAriana Museum, Geneva, SwitzerlandArt Institute of Chicago, USABritish Museum, London, UKBrooklyn Museum of Art, USAClark Center for Japanese Art and Culture,Hanford, CA, USAEverson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, USAFrench Culture Foundation, Paris, FranceHetjens Museum, Düsseldorf, GermanyHouston Museum of Art, USAIndianapolis Museum of Art, USAInternational Aichi Prefecture Ceramic Museum,JapanJapan Foundation, Tokyo. JapanKameoka City Museum, JapanKyoto Municipal Museum of Art, JapanKyoto Prefectural Historical Institute, JapanManyo’an Collection of Japanese Art,New Orleans, USAMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USAMinistry of Foreign Affairs, Tokyo, JapanMusée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, SwitzerlandMusée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, FranceMusée National de Céramique, Sèvres, FranceMuseo Internazionale delle Ceramiche,Faenza, ItalyMuseo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaMuseum of Art and History, Geneva, SwitzerlandMuseum of Contemporary Ceramic Art,Shiga, JapanMuseum of Decorative Arts,Prague, Czech RepublicMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston, USAMuseum of Modern Art, Belgrade, SerbiaMuseum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, JapanNational Gallery of Australia, Canberra, AustraliaNational Museum of Art, Osaka, JapanNational Museum of History, Taipei, TaiwanNational Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, JapanNational Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, JapanNew Orleans Museum of Art, LA, USANewcastle Regional Gallery, NSW, AustraliaNorth Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, USAPortland Museum of Art, OR, USARhode Island School of Design Museum,Providence, RI, USASpencer Art Museum, Lawrence, KS, USASt Louis Museum of Art, MO, USASuntory Museum of Art, Tokyo, JapanTokoname City Education Bureau, JapanTsurui Museum of Art, Niigata, JapanThe Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, USAVictoria & Albert Museum, London, UK87

Selected BibliographyBaekeland, Frederick and Edward Moes, eds.Modern Japanese Ceramics in American Collections.New York: The Japan Society, 1993.Faulkner, Rupert. Japanese Studio Craft: Traditionand the Avant-Garde. Philadelphia: University ofPennsylvania Press, 1995.Bentini, Jadranka. »In Search for Perfectionbetween Tradition and Ortifice.« In JadrankaBentini and Franco Bertoni, eds., Sueharu Fukami.Faenza: Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche inFaenza, 2005, 10–19.Bentini, Jadranka and Franco Bertoni, eds. SueharuFukami. Faenza: Museo Internazionale delle Ceramichein Faenza, 2005.Bertoni, Franco. »Sueharu Fukami: The Road towardAbstraction.« In Bentini and Franco Bertoni,eds., Sueharu Fukami. Faenza: Museo Internazionaledelle Ceramiche in Faenza, 2005, 20–31.Clark, Jimmy. »Sueharu Fukami.« American Craft62, 5 (2002), 108.Cort, Louise. »Looking Deeply.« In Ruth andSherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at theClark Center, ed., Genesis of a Genius: The EarlyCeramics of Fukami Sueharu. Hanford, CA: Ruthand Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at theClark Center, 2003, 3–5.Crueger, Annelise, Wulf Crueger and Saeko Itō,eds. Wege der japanischen Keramik: Tradition inder Gegenwart. Berlin and Tübingen: Museum fürOstasiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlinand Wasmuth, 2004.Fujino Akira, Fukami Sueharu, and Kiyomizu Rokubei.»Kyoto, tōgei no genzaikei: Fukami Sueharuto Kiyomizu Rokubei.« Hono’o Geijutsu 68 (2001).Fujino Akira, Fukami Sueharu, and Kiyomizu Rokubei.»Kyoto Togei Today: Interview with FukamiSueharu and Kiyomizu Rokubei.« Ceramic Art andCraftwork 68 (2001), 12–21.Fukami Sueharu. »Giving Form to Thought.« ModernMaster Artists of Japan. Vol. 2. Sandy Hook,Conn.: Shorewood Fine Art Books 2003, 32–3.Fukami Sueharu. »Meditations on Form: Remarksby Fukami Sueharu.« In Ruth and Sherman LeeInstitute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center,ed., Genesis of a Genius: The Early Ceramics ofFukami Sueharu. Hanford, CA: Ruth and ShermanLee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center,2003, 24–5.Fukami, Sueharu. »Omoi o katachi ni motomete,jisaku o kataru.« In Yokoyama Toshio, et al, eds.Antei shakai no sōgō kenkyū: Mono o tsukuru, tsukau.Kyoto: Kyoto Zemināru Hausu, 2000, 52–81.Fukami Sueharu, et al. »Omoi no katachi oseihakuji ni takushite.« In Fukumoto Shigeki andNakamura Kimpei. Nijūisseiki wa kōgei ga omoshiroi.Tokyo: Kyūryūdō, 2003, 249–83.Dewald, Gabi. »Zwischen Teehaus und Metropolis.«Keramik Magazin 22, 5 (Oct – Nov, 2000),38–41.Earle, Joe, Halsey North, and Alice North, eds.Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for theNew Century. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2005.Fukami, Sueharu, Hiroya Kawanabe, and MorganPitelka. »Sakuhin ni na o tsukeru to iu koto.« InYokoyama Toshio, et al, eds. Antei shakai no sōgōkenkyū: Mono o tsukuru, tsukau. Kyoto: KyotoZemināru Hausu, 2000, 28–51.88

Fukami Sueharu, Inui Yoshiaki, and GiancarloBojeni. Sueharu Fukami. Kyoto: Tōgakudō Gallery,1986, 39–44.Kaneko Kenji. »Sueharu Fukami: Formative Logicby Slip Casting.« Kerameiki Techni, InternationalCeramic Art Review (August, 2000), 33–40.Graham, Patricia. »Studio Potters and PorcelainManufacture in Japan.« Orientations 27/11(December, 1996), 45–52.Kaneko, Kenji. »Ikomi zōkei ron no kōzō, FukamiSueharu ron.« In Gendai tōgei no zōkei shikō.Tokyo: Abe Shuppan, 2001, 435–40.Hasebe, Mitsuhiko and Kazunobu Nakanodo, eds.Nihon no tōgei, ima hyakunen. Tokyo: NHK, 1992.Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, ed. Nijūisseiki o hirakuyakimono no shuhō to katachi. Ibaraki: IbarakiCeramic Art Museum, 2001.Inui Yoshiaki. »Ceramics and ‚The Now’: A Meditation.«In Tanaka Aiko, ed. The Now in JapaneseCeramics – Messages from Artists in Kyoto: ADrama of Space Enacted by Ten Clay Artists.Tokyo: Fine Arts Division, Takashimaya, 1990, 4–7.Inui Yoshiaki. »Fukami Sueharu.« In Tanaka Aiko,ed. The Now in Japanese Ceramics – Messagesfrom Artists in Kyoto: A Drama of Space Enactedby Ten Clay Artists. Tokyo: Fine Arts Division,Takashimaya, 1990, 40.Kyoto Shoin, ed. Fukami Sueharu. Toh Series: TheBest Selections of Contemporary Ceramics inJapan, vol. 81. Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin, 1993.Lurie, Samuel J., Beatrice Chang, and Geoff Spear.Fired with Passion: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics.New York: Eagle Art Publication, 2006.Maezaki Shinya. »Beyond the Ocean’s Horizon,the Work of Sueharu Fukami.« Orientations 36, 2(March, 2005), 101–6.Maezaki Shinya. »Chasing Perfection.« In Ruthand Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at theClark Center, ed., Genesis of a Genius: The EarlyCeramics of Fukami Sueharu. Hanford, CA: Ruthand Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at theClark Center, 2003, 7–27.Jones, Meghen. »Mit dem Auge des Ego im Visier,Japanische Keramik des 20. Jahrhunderts unddas Individuum.« In Stephan von der Schulenburg,ed., Faszination Keramik, Moderne japanischeMeisterwerke in Ton aus der Sammlung GiselaFreudenberg. Frankfurt: Museum für AngewandteKunst, 2005, 40–8.Kaneko Kenji. »Formative Thinking in SueharuFukami: Craftical Formation, not Studio Craft.«In Jadranka Bentini and Franco Bertoni, eds.,Sueharu Fukami. Faenza: Museo Internazionaledelle Ceramiche in Faenza, 2005, 32–7.Maezaki Shinya. »Fukami Sueharu, Ceramic Sculptor.«Ceramic Arts and Perception 63 (2006), 4–8.Matsuyama Tatsuo. »Fukami Sueharu.« Hono’oGeijutsu 94 (Summer 2008), 70–7.Matthews, Jeff. »Fired Up: The Sought-After Ceramicsof Sueharu Fukami.« Robb Report (September,2008), 98.Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza,ed. Personale di Sueharu Fukami, Premio Faenza’85. Faenza: Museo Internazionale delle Ceramichein Faenza, 1986.89

NHK, ed. Yakimono tanhō haruka naru zōkei, FukamiSueharu. Kyūshū: NHK Kyūshū, 1998.Nihon Terebi, ed. Bi no sekai, jiki no atarashii chihei,Fukami Sueharu. Tokyo: Nihon Terebi, 1995.Okuno Kenichi. »Fukami Sueharu: Seihaku no jini kūkan o gyōshimeru.« Glass & Art 1995, 11(Autumn, 1995), 80–7.Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Artat the Clark Center, ed., Genesis of a Genius: TheEarly Ceramics of Fukami Sueharu. Hanford, CA:Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Artat the Clark Center, 2003.Tanaka Aiko, ed. The Now in Japanese Ceramics –Messages from Artists in Kyoto: A Drama of SpaceEnacted by Ten Clay Artists. Tokyo: Fine Arts Division,Takashimaya, 1990.Yellin, Robert. »Sueharu Fukami: Porcelain Horizons,Modern Monoliths.« The Japan Times (August 31,2005), 13.Würmell, Core. »Die japanische Gegenwartskeramikzwischen Moderne und Tradition: FukamiSueharu und Tsujimura Shirō, Zusammentreffenkünstlerrischer Vision und technischer Meisterschaftzweier Keramikkünstler der Gegenwart.«MA Thesis, University of Heidelberg, 2006.Schaarschmidt-Richter, Imtraud and Felix Zdenek,eds. Japan, Keramik und Fotographie, Traditionund Gegenwart. Hamburg: Deichtorhallen, 2003.Schnyder, Rudolf. »Exploring New Horizons:Sueharu Fukami.« Ceramics Art and Perception 25(1996), 67–70.Schulenburg, Stephan von der, ed. FaszinationKeramik, Moderne japanische Meisterwerke in Tonaus der Sammlung Gisela Freudenberg. Frankfurt:Museum für Angewandte Kunst, 2005.Shibatsuji Masahiko. »Fukami Sueharu: Dentōno seihakuji o chōyaku saseta tenpu no zae.« InShibatsuji Masahiko and Yonezawa Aritsune, eds.Geijutsu no setsuri, fukashi no katachi ni semarusakkatachi. Kyoto and Tokyo: Tankōsha, 2002,197–213.Shino Kato. »The Birth of Sueharu Fukami as aModern Ceramic Artist.« In Fukami Sueharu,Inui Yoshiaki, Giancarlo Bojeni. Sueharu Fukami.Kyoto: Tōgakudō Gallery, 1986, 39–44.90

Cover:Detail from 空 ⅡKū II: Sky II, 2006 (catalog nr. 27)Erik ThomsenSueharu Fukami© 2008 Erik ThomsenPhotography: Cem YücetasDesign and Production: Valentin BeinrothPrinting: Druck- und Verlagshaus Zarbock GmbH & Co. KGFrankfurt am MainISBN-10: 1-58886-103-1ISBN-13: 978-1-58886-103-0Printed in Germany92

深見陶治Sueharu FukamiErik Thomsen