A Potter in Japan

It would be a challenge to find a potter in the world more widely known and respected than Bernard Howell Leach. Though considered the father of British studio pottery, he is as famous in Japan as he is in Europe and the United States?not only as an artist and craftsman, but also as a philosopher.

Though born in Hong Kong, Leach spent his early life in Japan. He moved to England at the age of ten, and he attended art school in London, before returning to live in Japan from 1909 to 1920. During this crucial period of artistic discovery, Leach first established himself as a potter and a master of the raku style. He eventually moved back to England to hone his craft, before traveling throughout most of Europe and Asia. A Potter in Japan is a collection of memoirs and diary entries from the time he returned to Japan to teach and travel in the early 1950s.

These accounts provide a unique opportunity to see the important Eastern influence on his craft and will appeal to lovers of ceramics and anyone with an interest in cultural interchange between East and West.

Bernard Howell Leach (18871979) was a British studio potter and art teacher. He founded Leach Pottery in St. Ives and taught some of the most celebrated ceramicists of the twentieth century.