The Yorkshire Tea Ceremony and other things

This morning I went to the York Art Gallery to see two of their recent exhibitions.

The first was Pictures of a floating world: Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. I have been interested in Japan for some time, and wrote about this last year. These woodblock prints include such amazing detail, and such beautiful colouring. It was fascinating to read about the cross-fertilisation between Japanese art and art in the western world during the 19th century.

It was difficult to photograph the prints because of reflections in the glass, but I think it was the seasonal nature of this image that made me try.

Katsukawa Taigaku Rolling a Mortar across the Snow (c1830-1844) Woodblock print York Art Gallery

The Yorkshire Tea Ceremony, is an exhibition of British studio pottery from the collection of W.A. Ismay, a prolific collector who lived in Yorkshire. This is a stunning collection and we are very fortunate to have it here in York. I was particularly taken with the way the material was displayed, with material from Ismay’s archive of papers and photographs sitting alongside, and behind, the pots.

Again difficult to take good photographs because of the glass, but I shall include some of my favourites here.

The first case I looked at were pots by the Japanese potter Shoji Hamada, who worked with Bernard Leach to set up his first pottery in Cornwall in the 1920s. There were huge pots, such as the Grain Jar by Michael Cardew

Japanese potter Shoji Hamada, who worked with Bernard Leach to set up his first pottery in Cornwall in the 1920s. THe printed papers behind are the exhibition catalogues where Ismay bought the pots.

The marks on this pot by Barbara Cass led me to think of how they might be stitched, this was a pot I really wanted to touch.

A huge grain jar and a small soy sauce pot by Michael Cardew (1901-1983), a potter Ismay greatly admired.

A model of Ismay, I am afraid I failed to record the artist. Behind are labels from some of the 3600 pots Ismay bought.

And finally, some glass. I really love this kind of glass, where the reflections and transmissions create such beautiful effects. Ismay had a brief period of collecting glass, some of these pieces are by Peter Layton. I have a couple of pieces from his London Glassblowing workshop in London.