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Exemplifying the Modern Spirit: Japanization and Modernization in the Ceramic Art of Miyagawa Kozan (1842-1916), Shirayamadani Kitaro (1865-1948), and Itaya Hazan (1872-1963)

Hagen, Lindsay M.

Abstract Details

2012, MA, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Art History.
This thesis explores the modern spirit in Japanese ceramics from 1871 to 1927. More specifically, I examine how modernity affected the designs and approaches of three influential ceramic artists, Miyagawa Kozan (1842-1916), Shirayamadani Kitaro(1865-1948), and Itaya Hazan (1872-1963) as evidence that Japanese ceramic art in the modern period represents a reinterpretation of tradition and modernity, fused with Western influences. Moreover, these three key artists provide insight into the development of the ceramic arts in Japan as they transformed from domestic tea wares to export wares and ultimately to objects of modern artistic expression and creativity through the contributions of Kozan, Shirayamadani, and Hazan. In chapter one I provide historical context to describe pre-modern Japan and how aspects of society and visual arts transformed in the modern period. In chapter two I introduce four stages of development that characterize the transformations of the ceramic arts from the Meiji period until the turn of the century: initial fascination among foreign audiences, their mass consumption, marketing by the Japanese targeted at western audiences, and finally, artists bridging Eastern traditions and Western techniques to create fresh, modern designs that often stretched the perceived limits of the ceramic medium. I introduce artists Kozan, Shirayamadani, and Hazan, highlighting their contributions and significance. I also describe the ways in which their works reflect the phases of development that transpired in the modern period. In chapter three I discuss a central component of modernity in relation to Kozan, Shirayamadani, and Hazan's works: reinterpretation of Japanese traditions fused with Western influences of technological advances. Chapter four investigates the spirit of individualism and its impact from the late Meiji to the Taisho period. In Japan, increased individualism helped elevate the profile of ceramics as an artistic medium, and the position of the ceramic maker to that of artist. The inclusion of ceramic arts as a category in the government-sponsored Imperial Art Academy Exhibition (Teiten) in 1927 marked a major turning point in the attitude towards ceramic art in modern Japan. A discussion of Kozan, Shirayamadani, and Hazan highlights connections in their stylistic approaches, responses to the modern age and shifting demands of the ceramic industry. Although their works represent sequential periods of the modern era, I argue that all three ceramic artists responded to fluctuating tastes, both domestically and internationally. They embraced modernism and created fresh interpretations and designs that were guided by a sense of their individual artistic potential. In turn, this led to a new kind of ceramic art that explored the vast possibilities of their ceramic medium. Miyagawa Kozan represents the transitional potter who began the efforts to stretch the perceived limits of the ceramic medium in the Meiji period. Japanese-American decorator Shirayamadani Kitaro played a critical role in the Art Pottery Movement in America which became a source of great inspiration to later Japanese ceramic artists, including Itaya Hazan, who, as Japan's first independent studio artist, exemplifies the fulfillment of this development in ceramic art.
Mikiko Hirayama, PhD (Committee Chair)
Anita Ellis, MA (Committee Member)
Morgan Thomas, PhD (Committee Member)
147 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hagen, L. M. (2012). Exemplifying the Modern Spirit: Japanization and Modernization in the Ceramic Art of Miyagawa Kozan (1842-1916), Shirayamadani Kitaro (1865-1948), and Itaya Hazan (1872-1963) [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1337717171

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hagen, Lindsay. Exemplifying the Modern Spirit: Japanization and Modernization in the Ceramic Art of Miyagawa Kozan (1842-1916), Shirayamadani Kitaro (1865-1948), and Itaya Hazan (1872-1963). 2012. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1337717171.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hagen, Lindsay. "Exemplifying the Modern Spirit: Japanization and Modernization in the Ceramic Art of Miyagawa Kozan (1842-1916), Shirayamadani Kitaro (1865-1948), and Itaya Hazan (1872-1963)." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1337717171

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)