{"product_id":"aka-e-modoki-style-aka-e-ceramics-3iixop4w","title":"Aka-e modoki [In the style of Aka-e ceramics]","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn extremely rare Wartime Serizawa title, from the library of the well-known bibliophile Sakamoto Kazutoshi (1912-1999). The present book is one of three titles Serizawa printed in 1943 on the subject of pottery, the others being \u003cem\u003eMashiko higaeri\u003c\/em\u003e [A day trip to Mashiko] and \u003cem\u003eTohoku kama meguri\u003c\/em\u003e [Touring the Tohoku kilns].\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not as well-known as his textiles and books, but Serizawa dabbled pottery in the early days of his career. He was deeply inspired by his trips to Okinawa and imported special clay from the Tsuboya pottery district in Naha. Serizawa’s friend, the famous \u003cem\u003emingei\u003c\/em\u003e potter Shoji Hamada (1894–1978), helped him to build a kiln in the garden of his Tokyo home studio. Here he started to make his own pottery with beautiful hand-painted designs. When his home studio burned down in the air raids of WWII, all of his work that he owned was reduced to ashes. This included all of his original sketches for pottery designs, textiles and books. The pottery itself was also destroyed and the very few examples that survive today were pieces that he had sold or given away before the air raids.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs such, the present book is an extremely important contemporary record of Serizawa’s pottery designs. He printed only 30 copies of this title and named the book \u003cem\u003eAka-e modoki\u003c\/em\u003e – ‘In the style of aka-e pottery’. This is a reference to Chinese Song Dynasty porcelain, which was one source of inspiration for Serizawa’s own ceramic works. Serizawa did not resume pottery after the tragic destruction of his kiln in the War.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe printing of this book is also worth noting. By this point Serizawa had honed his skill in stencil dyeing onto washi paper (as opposed to his usual medium of textiles). Compared to earlier works, where colour accents are painted on top of the printed page, there is a better balance of hand-colouring and stencil. For this title Serizawa purposefully designed the stencils so that gaps were left for hand-coloured decoration. This is somewhat similar to the process of pottery, when the glaze is painted on top of the bisque fired clay. Much like how Serizawa would paint designs onto ceramic pieces, he has used the stencil layer as the ‘ceramic’ upon which he paints his designs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExtremely rare. No copies in OCLC.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Maggs Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67650930868533,"sku":"263837","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/0045\/9677\/files\/263837_07.jpg?v=1791386161","url":"https:\/\/store.maggs.com\/products\/aka-e-modoki-style-aka-e-ceramics-3iixop4w","provider":"Maggs Bros.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}