Folk Art Potters of Japan: Beyond an Anthropology of Aesthetics

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Brian Moeran (Universities of Hong Kong at Exeter, UK and Zheijiang Gongshan, China)

Folk Art Potters of Japan

Beyond an Anthropology of Aesthetics

Brian Moeran (Universities of Hong Kong at Exeter, UK and Zheijiang Gongshan, China)

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English

Routledge
27 August 1997

Ceramics: artworks; Folk art; Regional studies; Cultural studies; Anthropology

Series: Anthropology of Asia

This is a study of a group of potters living in

a small community in the south of Japan, and about the problems they face in the production, marketing and aesthetic appraisal of a kind of stoneware pottery generally referred to

as mingei, or folk art. It shows how different people in an

art world bring to bear different sets of values as they negotiate the meaning of mingei and try to decide whether a pot is 'art', 'folk art', or mere 'craft'. At the same time, this book is an unusual monograph in that it reaches beyond the mere study of an isolated community to trace the origins and history of 'folk art' in general. By showing how a set of aesthetic ideals originating in Britain was taken to Japan, and thence back to Europe and the United States - as a result of the activities of people like William Morris, Yanagi So etsu, Bernard Leach and Hamada Sho ji - this book not only rewrites the history of contemporary western ceramics, but

engages in two important discourses in contemporary anthropology: one concerned with art and aesthetics; the other with

Orientalism. Amply illustrated, and with a frank description of the operation of Japan's art pottery world in the Afterword, Folk Art Potters of Japan is a must for practising potters, as well as for those concerned with the future development of anthropology and Japanese Studies.

By: Brian Moeran (Universities of Hong Kong at Exeter UK and Zheijiang Gongshan China)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 690g
ISBN: 9780700706051
ISBN 10: 0700706054
Series: Anthropology of Asia
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 27 August 1997
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Brian Moeran

Reviews for Folk Art Potters of Japan: Beyond an Anthropology of Aesthetics

'One of the strengths of this book is that it contextualizes a rich, tightly focused ethnography within discussions of the implications of the data to larger theoretical questions Although grappling with abstract theoretical matters, this book is well organized, highly readable, and always grounded in the case study of the potters. Influences are always shown to be reciprocal or circular and not linear. The splendid photographs bring the pots and the setting to life. If Blake can see a world in a grain of sand, Moeran can in a grain of clay, and he has depicted it for us in rich and satisfying detail.' - Karen A. Smyers, Asian Folklore Studies