Shiro Tsujimura

Shiro Tsujimura (b.1947) began his artistic career studying oil painting; however, he became disillusioned during this process and eventually abandoned the idea. Inspired by a classic Ido teabowl from the Folk Museum in Japan, Tsujimura embarked on the journey of ceramic arts. He is known widely known as a master of pottery as his ceramic works reflect a level of sophistication and return to nature in the various clay bodies and glazes he used. His dedication to the ceramic arts bleeds into his lifestyle. In 1967, Shiro and his wife moved to Mima, Nara, where he currently resides, and built a home, a teahouse, and seven kilns over the years.

Biography:

1947 Born May 22 in Gossei, Nara Prefecture, Japan.

1965 Leaves for Tokyo to prepare for entrance examination to art college but becomes disillusioned with the mechanical process and abandons the idea. Upon a visit to the Japan Folkcraft Museum, is intensively inspired by a classic Ido Tea Bowl and decides to take up pottery.

1966 - 1968 Resides at Sanshoji, a Zen temple in Nara.

1968 Returns to his father's farm. Builds a potting wheel from the wheel of an old card, and starts practicing at night.

1969 Marries Mieko Sugiyama.

1970 Buys a plot of land deep in the hills above the city of Nara in Mima, and builds his house, a workshop, a tea house, and seven kilns. Starts a long period of study of ceramics. Kilns rebuilt and / or refined numerous times.

1975 First son, Yui, is born.

1976 Second son, Kai, is born.

1977 First exhibition at his home. Catalogue is self - made with snapshots of pieces pasted in a short handmade booklet and distributed to friends.

1978 First public exhibition in Osaka, which is the start of a long career.

1981 After a visit to Kassai City in Hyogo Prefecture, the arhat theme begins to appear in his ceramics and his paintings.

1982 Toyozo Arakawa (1894 - 1985), a Living National Treasure in ceramics, sees Tsujimura's pieces and asks to purchase a vase.

1993 Builds a kiln in West Devon, U.K. and makes pottery for London exhibitions

1999 Honored with a solo exhibition at the Kyoto Chado Shiryokan, only the second contemporary potter after Kyoto veteran Shin Fujihira.

2003 Gives talk about his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Exhibitions:

1977 First exhibition at Home

1978 Misukoshi, Osaka, Japan

1980 Mitsukoshi, Osaka, Japan

1981 Yamaha Gallery Kichijoji, Tokyo, Japan

1981 Tokyo Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan
1983 Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan

1984 MOA Museum, Atami, Shizuoka, Japan

1984 Nagoya Maruei, Aichi, Japan

1990 Tachikichi Main Store, Tokyo, Japan
1993 Japan Art, Frankfurt, Germany
1994 Gallery Besson, London, United Kingdom

1994 Franfurt Japan Art, Franfurt, Germany

1995 Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan

1996 Kuze Gallery, Gifu, Japan

1996 Yu Gallery, Palace Hotel, Tokyo, Japan

1996 Nagoya Maruei, Aichi, Japan

1996 Toyohashi Hankyu Umeda, Osaka, Japan

1999 Chado Research Center Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

2000 Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan (Paintings)

2000 Hankyu Umeda, Osaka, Japan

2000 Okayama Maruei, Okayama, Japan

2000 Nagoya Maruei, Aichi, Japan
2003 Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York

2004 Toyohashi Maruei, Aichi, Japan

2005 Tachikichi, Kyoto, Japan

2006 Yu Gallery, Palace Hotel, Tokyo, Japan

2006 Axel and May Vervoordt Foundation, Wijnegem, Belgium
2007 Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan

2007 "Artempo: Where Time Becomes Art", Palazzo Fortuny, Venice

2008 Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan

2009 Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York

2009 Galerie Yoshii, Paris, France

2009 Ryogotei Tokyo, Japan

2010 Joblonka Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2010 Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan

2010 Tachikichi, Kyoto, Japan

2011 Ippodo Gallery Tokyo, Japan

2011 Kochi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York

2011 Infinitum, Plazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

2012 Galerie Capazza, Nancy, France

2012 Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York

2012 Lacoste Gallery, Concord, Massachusets

2012 Mingei Arts Gallery, Paris, France

2012 Imura Art Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

2013 Tapie, Los guardo dell'artista, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice

2013 Leslie Kehoe Galleries, Victoria, Australia

2013 Axel Vervoordt Kanaal, Wijnegem, Belgium

2015 PROPORTIO, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

Public Collections:

Asian Art Musuem of San Franscisco, San Franscisco, California
Ackland Art Museum and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Axel and May Vervoordt Foundation, Wijnegem, Belgium
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York
The British Museum, London, United Kingdom
Chado Research Center Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Frankfurt Craft Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
Freer Gallery of Art, National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C

Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia

ISE Cultural Foundation, Japan

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Miho Museum, Shiga, Japan
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Museum of Asian Art, Berlin, Germany
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas
Stockholm Museum of Art, Stockholm, Sweden

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut