Special Exhibition : Lucie Rie: A Retrospective
Lucie Rie (1902-1995), born in Vienna and worked in England, was one of the most influential artist potters of the 20th century. The splendor of her works, which incorporated the innovative trends of the early 20th-century Europe that had been occurring in the fields including architecture, design and science, has never faded but has been continuing to raise its reputation even 15 years after her death.
After studying pottery at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, Rie established her status as an artist-potter, though during the war in 1938 she was forced to flee to London where she started her new career. The environment for pottery production there, however, was different from that in Vienna. Studio potters were in the center of pottery making in England, the leading figure being Bernard Leach. Rie worked to establish her original world of pottery along with her assistant Hans Coper. The forms that are simple but producing a feeling of tension, the unique decorative techniques found in inlay and sgraffito, and the pink and blue glazes that are colorful but also render warmth －they are all elements that can be found only in her works and never end to attract many people even today.
This first large-scale retrospective exhibition after her death traces the lifework of Lucie Rie by displaying approximately 200 works selected from both inside and outside Japan that represent her early years in Vienna through her mature period in London.
Official Site
http://www.lucie-rie.jp/
Information
Title:
Special Exhibition “Lucie Rie: A Retrospective”
Dates:
Saturday, December 11, 2010 ― Sunday, February 13, 2011
Opening hours:
from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
*Open until 7:00 pm during the main performance of the event “Osaka Hikari Renaissance (Renaissance of Light) 2010” (from Saturday, December 11 to Saturday, December 25)
*Last admission: 30 minutes prior to closing time
Closed:
Mondays (open on December 13, 20. and January 10), New Year’s holidays (Tuesday, December 28 – Tuesday, January 4) and Tuesday, January 11.
Organizer:
The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Nikkei Inc.
Curated:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
In association with:
he British Council
In cooperation with:
Japan Airlines
Supported by:
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Admission:
Adults 900yen (720yen)
University and high school students 540yen (450 yen）
・Prices in parenthesis are group discount rates for a party of 20 people or more.
・The following visitors are free of charge:
*Holders of Shintaishogaisha techo (Identification Booklet for the Physically Challenged), including one companion
*Senior citizens of Osaka City holding IDs including:
Kenko techo (Health Handbook) with a ‘crane’ mark
Keiro yutai joshasho (senior discount ID for public transportation)
*Junior-high school students and under
Number of items on display:
approximately 200 pieces
Also showing:
Featured Exhibition:
Works of KAWASAKI Tsuyoshi - Gift of FUKUSHIMA Satoko
Permanent Exhibition:
Chinese and Korean Ceramics of the Ataka Collection
Korean Ceramics of the Rhee Byung-Chang Collection
Japanese Ceramics
Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Oki Shoichiro Collection
Inquiries:
The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
Phone: 06-6223-0055
Fax : 06-6223-0057
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Bowl decorated with pink lines, c.1980
Porcelain
Height: 9.7cm
mouth diameter: 20.0cm
Private collection, estate of the artist
The sharp contrast of the elegant pink glaze and the metallic bronze glaze, to which a streak of green line is added as an accent, makes this bowl a graceful piece. After a slight opening from the thin, tall foot, the sides immediately stretch out widely towards the mouth, giving a tense yet elegant effect to the form. The inlay decoration on the body is one of Rie’s original decorative techniques, executed by incising lines on the both interior and exterior, which were then filled with colored clay. This representation is an achievement of her own tireless research and experiments to find the clay and glaze that match with just one firing.
Vase decorated with lines (blue), c.1976
Porcelain
Height: 25cm
mouth diameter: 13cm
Private collection, estate of the artist
Photo: Alan Tabor
The form of this vase is typical Lucie Rie style, with a tall upright neck and a widely trumpeted mouth. The white bands between the manganese glaze and blue glaze are actually the surface of the clay body which were deliberately left unglazed. Thin inlaid horizontal bands were applied effectively into these white sections, adding accents to the overall atmosphere of the vase. Rie also decorated the interior and exterior of the mouth and the area between the neck and shoulder using the sgraffito technique. Though an unpretentious decoration, the radial line pattern emphasizes the opening of the mouth and guides the viewer’s attention towards the interior of the vase.
Blue glazed bowl, c.1978
Porcelain
Height: 8.4cm
mouth diameter: 18.3cm
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, estate of the artist
Photo: UENO Norihiro
While the foot is made relatively small compared to the widely opened mouth, Rie’s exceptional sense of balance does not make this piece look unstable. The matt, deep blue glaze, which she prepared each time she needs based on her original recipe, does not appear in a uniform color, but shows different kinds of tones and effects over the body. The manganese glaze on the mouth rim reminiscent of the metal cover found in Chinese Song ceramics was prepared with a certain amount of viscosity and brushed onto the mouth rim, which slightly ran down and turned to a bronze color during firing, adding strengh to the thin, delicate mouth rim.
