ARTIST

Miwa Kyusetsu XIII

Miwa Kyusetsu XIII is highly acclaimed for his style that incorporates dynamic and innovative sculptural forms while carrying forward the legacy of Hagi ware ceramics by using the traditional white Hagi glaze adopted by the Miwa family. Being the third son of Miwa Kyusetsu XI (Miwa Jusetsu), combined with his time abroad studying in the West Coast during the 1970s, where he experienced first hand avant garde developments in ceramics, afforded him great artistic freedom that manifests in his bold, thought provoking approaches to ceramics and art in general. He has continued to foster this sensibility since his return to Hagi and as the current bearer of the family mantle as Miwa Kyusetsu XIII. His dynamic and elegant work combining the unglazed surface of the clay cut out using a Japanese sword and the Hagi glaze evoke the majestic beauty and spectacular energy of nature, and continue to awe domestic and international audiences.

Miwa Kyusetsu XIII was born in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1951. He began his studies abroad at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1975. Since returning to Japan, he has continuously created distinctive art that transcends traditional Hagi ware ceramics at the family pottery, Fusoan Miwagama. Miwa assumed the family title of Miwa Kyusetsu XIII in 2019. He has presented major solo exhibitions, including “Permanent Destruction” (Gallery Ueda, 1987), “Dreams in White” (Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store, 1991), “SETSUREI—The Succession of MIWA KYUSETSU XIII” (touring exhibition in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagoya, 2019), and “Being a pioneer of expression—The ceramic works of Miwa Kyusetsu XIII (Miwa Kazuhiko)” (Yamaguchi Prefectural Hagi Uragami Museum, 2020). Notable group exhibitions include “Now, what you see on enormous ceramic artwork?” (Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 1984), “The World Ceramic Biennale 2005: Trans–Ceramic–Art” (Icheon World Ceramic Center, 2005), “Japon—Japonismes. Objets inspirés, 1867 – 2018” (Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 2018), and “Kogei 2020—The Art of Crafting Beauty from Nature” (Tokyo National Museum’s Hyokeikan Gallery, 2020). Miwa’s works are held in various public collections throughout the world, including those of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Yamaguchi Prefectural Hagi Uragami Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He was awarded the Japan Ceramic Society Prize in 2007 and the Japan Ceramic Society Gold Prize in 2021.

WORKS

INSTALLATION VIEW

BIOGRAPHY

1951 Born in Hagi, Yamaguchi
1975 Attends San Francisco Art Institute, Department of Ceramics

CV

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024 “El Capitan” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
“Miwa Kyusetsu XIII” Sogo Department Store, Hiroshima, Japan
2023 “Miwa Kyusetsu XIII” Seibu Department Store, Tokyo; Sogo Department Store, Yokohama, Japan
“Miwa Kyusestu XIII El Capitan” Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
2022 “Miwa Kyusetsu XIII” Tenmanya Department Store, Okayama and Fukuyama, Japan
“Genuine Encounters: Intersections of Destiny and Serendipity” Sanyo Department Store, Hyogo, Japan
2020 “Being a pioneer of expression - The ceramic works of Miwa Kyusetsu XIII (Miwa Kazuhiko)” Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
2019 “SETSUREI - The Succession of MIWA KYUSETSU XIII” Takashimaya Department Stores in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagoya, Japan
“Kanjizai - Enjoy the new diversion" gallery KAZURASEI, Kyoto, Japan
“Rising White” Mitsukoshi Department Store, Fukuoka, Japan
2017 “El Capitan” Shibuya Kuroda Toen, Tokyo, Japan
2009 “Ode to the Earth” Sogo Department Store, Hiroshima, Japan
2006 “Bowl with Light 2006” Saitoan Gallery, Yamaguchi, Japan
2002 “Verses of the White Land” Matsuzakaya Department Store, Nagoya, Japan
2000 “Kazuhiko Miwa Dancing in the Whiteness” Shibuya Kuroda Toen, Tokyo, Japan
“MIWA KAZUHIKO's Tea Room – REI” Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
1998 “Lazer 1998 Kazuhiko MIWA Project” Akiyoshidai International Art Village, Yamaguchi, Japan
1997 “DEAD END of dead end” Saitoan Gallery, Yamaguchi, Japan
1991 “Dreams in White” Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
1989 “Land of Stillness” / “Mindful land” Gallery Ueda, Tokyo, Japan
1988 “Miwa Kazuhiko” Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
1987 “Permanental Destruction” Gallery Ueda, Tokyo, Japan

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023 “Tea Ceramics – Hagi” Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
2022 “GROUP SHOW: 3 ARTISTS” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
“Ceramics of the Past and the Future: The Timelessness of Traditional Japanese Craft Arts” Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art, Tokyo; Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
“Branching Out - THE KANESHIGE FAMILY AND THE BIZEN TRADITION and MIWA FAMILY AND THE HAGI TRADITION” JOAN B MIRVISS LTD., New York, USA
2021 2020 Japan Ceramic Society Gold Prize “Niisato Akio and Miwa Kyusetsu XIII” Gallery KOCHUKYO, Tokyo, Japan
2020 “Kōgei 2020 – The Art of Crafting Beauty from Nature” Tokyo National Museum Hyokeikan, Tokyo, Japan
2019 “20 passions for Crafting Crafts” National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Crafts Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“The reflected light ｰTea-ceremony room which wanders about” Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
2018 “Japon - Japonismes, Objets inspirés, 1867 – 2018” Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
“New Orientalia” New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
2017 “A Guide to Contemporary Ceramic Art” Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Japan
“NEW FORMS, NEW VOICES – Japanese Ceramics from the Gitter-Yelen Collection” Gardiner Mueseum, Toronto, Canada
2016 “Kōgei (Modern Crafts) and the Tea Ceremony II from the Museum Collection” National Museum of Modern Art, Crafts Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“The Sculptural turn: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics from the Kemper and Stein Collection” Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
“Craft Arts: Innovation of 'Tradition and Avant-Garde', and the Present Day” National Museum of Modern Art, Crafts Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“blanc et blanche” Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan
“Commemorating the opening of the Kasama College of Ceramic Art - A guide to the Japanese contemporary ceramics" Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Japan
2015 “The Form of the Material” Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
2013 “2013 Cheongju International Craft Biennale” Cheongju, South Korea
2011 “Objet - The Innate Power of Ceramic Sculpture” Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
2009 “The 20th Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition 2009 XX” Daimaru Department Store, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan; Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Japan
2008 “The Intrinsic Form of Crafts – On the Examination of Rotating Body Ⅰ” Tajimi City Cultural Atelier gallery VOICE, Gifu and Gallery Satsu, Tokyo, Japan
2006 “Paramita Ceramic Competition” Paramita Museum of Art, Mie, Japan
“Ceramic Now +" The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, Japan
“The quintessence of modern Japanese ceramics” Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Japan
2005 “Communicating & Extending: International Ceramic Exhibition Korea, China, Japan” Milal Museum of Art, South Korea
“The World Ceramic Biennale 2005 ‘Trans - Ceramic – Art’” Gyeonggi, South Korea
2004 “Large Clay Work” Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
2003 “The Flower of Modern Ceramic - Color and Form exchanging influence” Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of Ceramic and Art, Japan
2002 “The Legacy of Modern Ceramic Art” Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan
2001 “International Asia-Pacific Contemporary Ceramics” Yingge Ceramics Museum, New Taipei City, Taiwan
1999 “The now in Japanese ceramics: morphology of the clay” Takashimaya Department Store, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan
1998 “Morphology of soil and visual media” HAGI International Festival of Film Art, Yamaguchi, Japan
1996 “Materials-Emerging Visions” MASUDA STUDIO, Tokyo, Japan
“Miwa-gama: The progression of tradition and revolution” Matsuzakaya Department Store, Nagoya, Japan
1995 “Hagi Ceramics - Formative Arts of Breakaway and Avantgarde” Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
1992 “Present Japan Ceramics 100” Mitsukoshi Department Store, Paris, France, and Tokyo, Japan
1991 “The Flow of Three-Dimensional Expression” Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
1990 “Discovery of Clay - Modern Ceramics and Primitive Pottery” The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Japan
1989 “Art Exciting '89: Beyond the Present" The Museum of Modern Art Saitama, Japan; Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
1988 Yukio Nakagawa & Kazuhiko Miwa “Morphing Flame” Gallery Saitoan, Yamaguchi, Japan
“EAST – WEST CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS EXHIBITION” Seoul Art Center, South Korea
1984 “Now, what you see on enormous ceramic artwork?” Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan

Public Collections

Arario Museum, Seoul, South Korea
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Ibaraki, Japan
The Japan Foundation
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA
The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, Japan
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, New Taipei, Taiwan
Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts, USA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, USA
The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga, Japan
Others

Awards

2021 Japan Ceramic Society Gold Prize
2012 Yamaguchi Prefectural Prize
2007 Japan Ceramic Society Prize
1997 Energia Culture and Sports Foundation Prize

PRESS

Appearance and Apparition Text by Minoru Shimizu｜REALKYOTO FORUM｜January 26, 2025

EXHIBITIONS

Miwa Kyusetsu XIII El Capitan

2024.11.2 Sat - 12.14 Sat

Kyobashi