2024-08-19 13:05:10
The centuries-old tea ceremony is part of Japan’s cultural heritage. His ceramic cult material follows a traditional yet innovative aesthetic. This represents an important private collection that the Munich Design Museum is now able to acquire.
When all the activities of a Japanese tea ceremony have come to an end, the vessels are filled with water, emptied and refilled. When the guests, after a silent walk along the garden path, enter the simple tea house, which is often decorated with a simple flower arrangement in a special pot, they have a light meal and some sake.
And when the tea water has been heated on the charcoal basin and the tea master, i.e. the host, has arranged the necessary equipment (dōgu) – tea caddy, iron powder, tea bowls, tea whisks and tea towels among others that have been choose well that has been chosen. equipment: then you start tea is prepared according to strict rules and finally put a bowl of tea to the guests in turn and position.
The group, who had been silent until then, thanked everyone with respect and praised the drink and the beauty of the equipment they used. This traditional event of the tea ceremony, which has been observed for hundreds of years, is a highly formal, formal activity. Aesthetic experience and spiritual meaning flow into each other. The experience of cult machinery, ceramics, is consistent.
The ceramist Gisela Jahn also caught fire immediately. He has been fascinated since he visited several pottery workshops on a study trip to Korea and Japan in 1979. Jahn traveled to Japan frequently, got to know the workshops and artists and soon became an expert of we know about Japanese instruments in the Western world. He has curated many exhibitions and has promoted the understanding and appreciation of Japanese ceramics beyond Germany’s borders.
Gisela Jahn studied in Heidelberg and Berlin and supervised many research projects. He is particularly interested in the contemporary achievements of ceramic artists from the second half of the 20th century. Together with her husband, the Munich artist Fred Jahn, she has put together an exemplary collection – some highlights are on display in Munich.
Traditional techniques, reinvigorated
The tradition and appreciation of the dangers of Japanese materials, which had become obsolete due to historical, representative time and geopolitical times, experienced a kind of revival in the 1980s through a law to protect traditional techniques. It comes with a selection of famous artists such as “National Treasures of Japan” or “Those who bear witness to the National Cultural Heritage of the Regions”. In this sense, ceramic materials, which are technical and artistic, are considered works of art for use at a higher level, such as tea parties in a good company. The outstanding ceramicists were also respected accordingly.
Approaches to the revival of the century-old Japanese ceramic tradition and with innovations naturally with unique craftsmanship and a sense of form, but also the knowledge of ancient techniques that give the vessels their quality and appearance after burning for days in a wood fire heated up to 1200 degrees. In factories like Shigaraki, craftsmen base their work on pieces of history that have been preserved and discovered somewhere. The kilns were rebuilt and clays were found, which could only provide a good place in some areas.
The model is a primitive, purist form. Treatment with a spatula, the shape of the glaze, is through random gradients or with a silhouette based on brush drawings, of course can have modern meanings, but the artist always has to let the object speak. The final design, after the ceramist has created a vessel ready for firing, is left to fire.
Special expansion for new collection
This is evident, including in the Munich exhibition, for example in the occasional small cracks in the surface of the ship’s walls. They are formed by small stones that explode during fire. The recessed, narrow stay of a potty works as a shadow gap and puts the boat in a seemingly floating position. Perfection is and is the second category. At best it is concentrated in form, hardly the color of fired clay or glaze. Following the example of the old masters, the edges and levels are not cleaned or enhanced in the following and remain in place. Rotary grooves can be seen.
It wasn’t until the 1920s that arts and crafts schools appeared in Japan, where professionals were also trained. Women are also left behind here. Apart from the creative power that was originally given only to men, it is a difficult profession that requires strength and resistance (against fire and heat) and is not considered intelligent for women. In small, family-run workshops, it is impossible to do without the help of women in individual areas of production. But that is village society, not education.
Gisela and Fred Jahn developed their high quality collection between 1980 and 2000 on the occasion of many workshop visits. In his Munich gallery, which is otherwise dedicated to Gerhard Richter, Fred Sandback and many important contemporary artists, Fred Jahn presents contemporary Japanese instruments, especially in the 1980s and 1990s; occasionally also ultra-minimalist lacquer work.
The couple has donated a collection of ceramics, consisting of 230 pieces, to Die Neuesammlung, the design museum of the Munich Pinakotheks. There are also sixty lacquer works by modern lacquer masters working in red and black colors. This is possible – especially in rich Munich, they rely on support – from the Cultural Center of the States, the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation and the Pin Museum Support Group.
Josef Straßer, the museum’s deputy director explains: “It is rather unusual for a design museum to have its own Japanese collection among more than twenty collection areas. He added: “Japanese handicrafts have been collected from the beginning, even if only in moderation. “With the acquisition of Gisela and Fred Jahn’s acquisition, this area undergoes significant expansion.” The New Collection therefore has “certainly one of the largest collections of modern Japanese ceramics in Europe”.
Ceramic quality
A small selection from Jahn’s collection is currently on display at the Pinakothek der Moderne, spectacularly illuminated in the almost dazzling light under the glass roof of the rotunda. It will be on display on a large scale in 2027, along with a catalog. Among the 15 pieces are red-brown Bizen vessels from the 1990s by Kaneshige Makoto, a flower pot (hanaire) whose unique decoration is created by laminations during firing. A tea bowl (chawan) from the 1980s with fabric prints on the wall is from Tsuboi Asuka, one of the few female designers. In the mid-1990s, Kanzaki Shiho achieved a red-flecked, cheerful effect using the iron content of clay and natural ash glaze.
The black storage vessel (tsubo), created before 1573 by an unknown master, documents the quality of model vessels from the early heyday of Japanese ceramics. A large box with a lid by designer Tokutake Toshiko made of black lacquer with mother-of-pearl and eggshell inlays is playful but has innovative craftsmanship. It refers to the most desired spectrum of collections.
And the large circular vase, which has two parts, stands majestically with the moderate and effective use of gray-blue brush strokes in light slip by Tsujimura Shiro. Despite all its shortcomings, the exhibition is a showcase of exemplary ceramic excellence by Japanese artists.
“Japanese Instruments – A New Collection from the Gisela and Fred Jahn Collection”, through September 1, 2024, The New CollectionMunich
#Cult #machines #pottery #important #Japanese #tea #ceremony