The three vases are decorated in blue and such a brilliant yellow that they seem to radiate light. One has a picture of bamboo growing to the lip of the vase.
"A lot of ceramics had borders at top and bottom," says Kathleen Emerson-Dell, gazing at the vase. "But this is more like a screen painting, in which things appear to continue beyond the edge. Here, the bamboo continues beyond the pot. It's an example of Kozan's spirit of pushing boundaries."
She's talking about work made in the studio of Miyagawa Kozan (1842-1916), whom she calls "one of the three greatest Japanese potters of his time." For the first time, Baltimoreans can see the works of this major artist in depth. The Walters Art Gallery is presenting "Bridging East and West: Japanese Ceramics from the Kozan Studio."
The exhibit contains 40 works in porcelain and stoneware from the Perry Foundation. Named for Commodore Matthew Perry, who opened Japan to the West in the 1850s, the foundation both collects and funds research on Japanese and Chinese art, and sponsored the current exhibit and accompanying catalog.
This is the first exhibit in America or Europe devoted exclusively to Kozan ceramics, says Emerson-Dell. The Walters is an appropriate place for the show because it owns seven Kozan pieces, bought by Henry Walters. Three of them are on view with the Perry pieces.
A Japanese art scholar and curatorial assistant at the Walters, Emerson-Dell has spent a year researching Kozan and his studio, which opened in Yokohama in the 1870s and continued under three generations of the family until it was destroyed by an Allied bombing raid in 1945.
The half century or so immediately following the Japanese opening to the West in the 1850s is one many scholars have looked down upon in the past. Emerson-Dell, who has produced the first English language catalog on Kozan, is enthusiastic about both the artist and the period.
"People have preferred older Japanese art, but I find this period of interaction with the West very interesting," she says. "They were seeking a balance, trying not to lose their traditions and aesthetic, but to reach out to the West."
The influence of the West can be seen, for instance, in a monumental Kozan vase (about 2 feet high) with a view of Mount Fuji on it, probably made to be sent to an international exposition or world's fair in the West. "This was not for the Japanese market," Emerson-Dell says. "Big pieces don't fit in a tea room very well."
Kozan's importance, according to Emerson-Dell, had to do with his innovations. "He was a good artist to begin with, and having access to new materials freed his creativity to use them in a new way very much rooted in a Japanese aesthetic."
Using imported chemicals not previously available to Japanese potters, he developed new colored glazes -- pinks, greens, purples -- that could be painted under the final transparent glaze and before the firing. Previously, only cobalt blue could be
painted under the glaze because other colors would run in the high heat of the firing.
He also refined a process known as blow painting. By blowing color through a fine mesh one could achieve subtle shadings and eliminate the marks left by brushes.
The show's spectacular pieces amply demonstrate these developments, but Emerson-Dell does not regard it as definitive. "I think of this as an introduction, to get people hooked. It's a work in progress, and I hope it leads to a more comprehensive exhibit of Kozan."
ART SHOW
What: "Bridging East and West: Japanese Ceramics from the Kozan Studio"
Where: The Walters Art Gallery, 600 N. Charles St.
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays; through April 9
Admission: $4 adults, $3 seniors, free for students and 18 and under
Call: (410) 547-9000