This study compares the status of clay and ceramic art in modern Italy and Japan and how the use of this material reflects broader approaches to art, nature, and society.
In Italy, hard and durable materials are celebrated due to Neoplatonic beliefs (see Vasari's Lives of the Artists). The classical outlook, as exemplified in Michelangelo, posits that the artist's role is to free ideal forms imprisoned within hard matter, and as a consequence the harder the material the better. As a result, important ceramic traditions such as Maiolica were renowned for their painting styles but struggled for recognition as high art. Even Donatello's and the Della Robbias' ceramic sculptures were famous because the ‘humble’ terracotta was concealed behind enamels that elevated it to artistic status. Nowadays, this bias against clay persists, as seen in the first national exhibition of ceramic art organized by Nino Caruso in 2015, which was boycotted by the Ministry of Culture. The artists in the exhibition also showed a tendency to interpret ceramics in abstract concepts, with little appreciation for its materiality.
In Japan, however, ceramic exhibitions are frequent and varied, and objects such as tea bowls (chawan) have a deep cultural and aesthetic significance. The reverence for clay manifests in many modern artists, who select earthy materials to transform into clay, sometimes based on century-old practices: the Raku family collects and stores materials from the Kamo River, Kyoto, while Bizen artists create the eponymous clay from the rice fields of Inbe, Okayama. Other artists honor the prestige of historical or religious areas: Kawase Shinobu (1950-) prefers the grounds of the Tōdaji temple in Nara, while Ken Mihara (1958-) the forests of old Izumo. Moreover, contemporary ceramic practices also show tendencies to consider the shaping of clay as a religious approach to nature; Buddhist monk Matsui Kōsei (1927-2003) deemed it meditation. In contrast with the importance of glazes in Italian ceramic arts, many Japanese pottery towns have preserved an appreciation for earth fired for a long time, called tsuchi aji, or ‘earth flavor’.
The Japanese dialectic with natural elements is lacking in modern Italian artists, who still hold a ‘classicist’ view of raw matter as something to be elevated by human intellect and technical skills. Artists in both countries recognized the fundamental difference between the two traditions. For example, the Italian Nino Caruso (1928-2017) also worked in Japan, and his later Mitovasi production was partially inspired by Japanese ceramics. Raku Kichizaemon XV Jinikyu (1949-), the descendant of the quasi-holy Japanese Raku family, studied in Rome and shows a complex dialectic with the Western conceptual tradition in his production.
As examined above, Italian ‘ideal forms’ and Japanese ‘reverence for the matter’ mirror one another in their approach to materiality. By referencing ceramic artists' writings and analyzing artistic and social practices concerning clay, this paper uses the social status of clay as a case study to highlight the contrasting philosophical, religious, and ecological ethos of Italy and Japan.
Clay, Ceramic, Italy, Japan, Earth-Flavor
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Amato, Lorenzo, Associate Professor of Italian Language and Literature, University of Tokyo, Japan (2011-present). PhD in Italian Humanist and Renaissance Culture (University of Florence, 2005) Renaissance Italian Literature, Philology, Book History, Literature and the Arts. Critical Edition of Domenico da Corella's Theotocon (Storia e Letteratura, 2012); La tradizione manoscritta delle Rime di Giovan Battista Strozzi il Vecchio (Polistampa, 2019). https://researchmap.jp/AmatoLorenzo?lang=en.
In Italy, hard materials like marble were favored over softer ones, such as clay, because of Neoplatonic beliefs. Ceramic sculptures by Donatello and the Della Robbias were celebrated because the "humble" terracotta was concealed behind glazes that gave it artistic status. This has been true untill today. In Japan, however, where ceramic exhibitions are frequent and varied, ceramic objects such as tea bowls (chawan) have profound cultural and aesthetic significance. Referring to the writings of contemporary ceramic artists, I use the social status of clay to highlight the contrasting philosophical, religious, and ecological ethos of Italy and Japan.