Shoji Hamada
(Japanese, 1894–1978)
Biography
Shoji Hamada was a Japanese ceramicist and an important member of the mingei folk-art movement. His simple designs convey an elegant beauty, focused on utility as much as aesthetic. “Even a bad pot has some use, but with a bad painting there is nothing you can do with it except throw it away,” Shoji once said. Born on December 9, 1894 in Tokyo, Japan, he was trained in pottery at Tokyo Technical College. While in school, he visited an exhibition of ceramic art that deeply impressed him. The show he saw, included the work of a British ceramicist named Bernard Leach. Shoji befriended Leach, and later accompanied him back to St. Ives, United Kingdom. After three years living and working in St. Ives, he returned to Japan to establish his own studio in the town of Mashiko. Notably, his studio only used locally sourced clay, and made glazing brushes from the hair of neighborhood dogs. In 1955, the Japanese Minister of Culture declared him a “Living National Treasure.” The artist died on January 5, 1978 in Mashiko, Japan. Today, Shoji’s works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Shoji Hamada Artworks
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