<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">And if you’re in Kyoto, do visit Kawai Kanjiro’s house, now a museum. Like Leach, he was a prominent figure in the Mingei movement in the visual arts<div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Sep 7, 2024, at 8:23 AM, Roger Macy via KineJapan <kinejapan@mailman.yale.edu> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Although
the <a href="https://www.wmgallery.org.uk/event/art-without-heroes-mingei/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webpage</a>
of the exhibition, Art Without Heroes – Mingei, at William Morris Gallery,
north London, doesn’t mention them, they have a room showing on loop, a number
of films assembled or made by Marty Gross, mostly using much earlier
documentary material, duly credited.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><span lang="EN-GB">Some of the earliest
material was shot by Bernard Leach, who visited Japan and Korea and was
influenced by, and influenced the Mingei movement. Leach had been much influenced
by William Morris, so it is an appropriate place for this exhibition.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><span lang="EN-GB">Both the exhibition and
the films offer parallel critiques, </span>articulating a resistance to the
classification of ‘Japanese folk art’ from the ‘peripheries’, where it could be
read as top-down, rather than the bottom-up feel with which it was conceived.</p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">Doubtless, there are people on this list who could write more
knowledgably on this than me, but I thought I’d give a heads-up to this
exhibition which closes on the 22<sup>nd</sup>, and also to a presentation on
Monday at a <a href="https://www.japansociety.org.uk/event?event=688&eventcat=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Japan
Society talk</a> at the Swedenborg by Marty Gross, on ‘Creating the Mingei Film
Archive Project.</p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">The one at Walthamstow that I found most fascinating was ‘<span>Bernard Leach films Korea and Manchuria,
1935</span>’. Unless your korean is very good, you’ll need to see it twice,
once to read the subtitles of Lee Ihnbun’s critique, and again to look at the
rare, if somewhat faded images.</p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">Other films in the loop are </p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:2.0pt"><span>Mashiko Village Pottery, 1937</span></p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">Onda Pottery</p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><span>Bernard Leach films the
Mingei model room at Takashimaya department store, 1934</span></p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><span>Hamada Shoji Overglaze
Decorating. This is an extract from the 1971 film, ‘<a href="https://mingeifilmarchive.com/the-project/the-art-of-the-potter/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="">The Art
of the Potter</a>’ in which </span></p><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>David Outerbridge and Sidney Reichman made a
documentary in which they interview Bernard Leach in St. Ives and film Shoji
Hamada at work in Mashiko.<p></p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none">Looking back at the exhibition page, I now see links to two Youtubed
films of Gross:-</p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><span class="ydpc19ddee6enni3mchec1avi736lugc1avi7h6mwh">Highlights from the Mingei Archive.
Some of the 9 minutes, but not all, are shared with the films above.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><span class="ydpc19ddee6enni3mchec1avi736lugc1avi7h6mwh">Making Objects for Daily Use
1934-1976. This material seemed to me mostly new, apart from some from Outerbridge
and Reichman’s film.</span></p>
<p class="ydpc19ddee6MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;layout-grid-mode:char;mso-layout-grid-align:none"><span class="ydpc19ddee6enni3mchec1avi736lugc1avi7h6mwh">Roger</span></p>
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