Mori Tōgaku

As the leading artist working in traditional Bizen techniques, Mori Togaku has been at the forefront of the Japanese ceramic art world for more than thirty years. He completed an extraordinary large semi-underground climbing kiln, where most of his work has been produced, and is now undertaking the near-impossible task of recreating an even larger Momoyama-style kiln. Influenced by ancient Bizen and its Chinese prototypes, such as Sue ware, he highly values the texture of clay and sometimes combines two or three different kinds of clay to create unique vessels that are both dramatically modern while also reflecting old traditions.

1937 Born in Imbe, Bizen, Okayama Prefecture
1957 Graduated from the art program, Okayama University
Assigned to teach at a junior high school in Takino, Hyogo Prefecture
1962 Left teaching to become a potter
1996 Featured in "Ceramics Hunt" (Yakimono Tambo) NHK TV special program
1999 "Ancient Bizen Rediscovered- Mori Tôgaku" featured on NHK television Sunday morning show
Featured in NHK Saturday arts program

Awards:
1969 Awarded prize by the Japan Ceramics Society
1996 Became an Important Cultural Property of Okayama Prefecture
Sanyô Newspaper Cultural Award
2002 Japanese Ceramic Society Award

Solo exhibitions:
1966 Tokyo Kôtsû Kaikan Hall, Tokyo (also in 1968)
1968 Gallery Te, Tokyo
1974 Isetan Department Store Gallery, Tokyo
1983 Akasaka Green Gallery, Tokyo
1984 Akasaka Green Gallery, Tokyo
1985 Akasaka and Minami Aoyama Green Galleries, Tokyo
1986 Seibu Department Store Gallery, Ikebukuro, Tokyo
Temmaya Department Store gallery, Okayama
1992 Gallery Fred Jan, Munich
1994 Mitsukoshi Department Store gallery, Tokyo (also in 1997)
Seibu Art Forum, Tokyo
Akasaka Green Gallery, Tokyo
Mitsukoshi Department Store Gallery, Osaka
Matsuzakaya Department Store Gallery, Nagoya
1995 Toyoike Museum, Okayama (also in 1996)
Tenmaya, Hiroshima and Okayama
1996 Maruei Department Store Gallery, Nagoya
Akasaka Green Gallery, Tokyo
Tenmaya, Okayama
1997 Mori Tôgaku in Celebration of his 60th Birthday, Tenmaya, Okayama
Akasaka Green Gallery, Tokyo
1998 Mitsukoshi Department STore Gallery, Niigata
1999 Akasaka Green Gallery, Tokyo

Group exhibitions:
1968 New Generation of Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto
1970 Contemporary Ceramics: Europe and Japan Exhibition, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
1971 Entry to the Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition (also in 1973, 1975, 1977)
Contemporary Ceramics: America, Canada, Mexico, and Japan Exhibition, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
1972 Annual show at Minami Aoyama Green Gallery in Tokyo
1984 Exhibited at Ginza Mune Crafts, Tokyo
1987 Exhibited at Akasaka and Minami Aoyama Green Galleries, Tokyo
Exhibited tablewares at Ikebukuro Seibu Department Store
1989 Exhibited at Akasaka Green Gallery (also in 1990, 1991), Tokyo
1991 Exhibited at Craft Gallery Tekona, Nagoya
1992 Exhibited at Maruzen, Nagoya
Exhibited teabowls and water containers at Minami Aoyama Green Gallery
1993 The 8th Contemporary Arts Exhibition
Invited to the 12th Japanese Ceramic Art Exhibition (thereafter biannually)
1994 The 9th Contemporary Arts Exhibition
Two-man show at Jun’i Art Museum in Niigata
1995 The 10th Contemporary Arts Exhibition (thereafter annually)
Contemporary Japanese Jars, Saitama Modern Art Museum
1997 Ceramics Hunt Exhibition, organized by NHK
Bizen wares; 1000 years of Tradition, National Ceramic Museum in France, traveling exhibition to Osaka, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Okayama
1998 The 20th Century World Ceramics Exhibition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and one of his pieces was acquired by the museum
1999 Exhibition at Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Nara, sponsored by Asahi Newspaper
2002 Two-man show with Suzuki Goro, Wako Tokyo in celebration of their receiving the prestigious Japanese Ceramic Society Award
2005 Exhibited and published, Contemporary Clay: Japanese ceramics for the new century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
2006 Tôji: Avant-Garde et Tradition de la Cèramique Japonaise, Musèe national de cèramique Sèvres, France
2009 Three-person exhibition, Kamoda Shôji, Ezaki Issei and Mori Tôgaku, Shibuya Kuroda Tôen, Tokyo
2010 The 10th the 21st Century Exhibition of Japanese Art, Tokyo Bijutsu Club (traveled to Kyoto, Kanazawa, Toyama and Osaka)

Selected References:
Mori Tôgaku: Toh, vol. 49 (Kyoto Shoin, 1992)

“Mori Tôgaku: Our Ceramic Artists II; 40th Anniversary Commemorative feature 4,” Honoho Geijutsu, vol. 41 (Abe Shuppan, 1995), pp. 30- 33, 51

“Bizen; Recommending Drinking Vessels,” Honoho Geijutsu, vol. 53 (Abe Shuppan, 1998), pp.12- 13

Robert Yellin, “Mori Tôgaku: Contemporary Ceramics,” Daruma, vol. 19, summer 1998, pp. 36- 39

Robert Yellin, “Ceramic Scene; Quality so good you can smell it,” The Japan Times, Saturday, July 10, 1999, p. 15

Robert Yellin, “Ceramic Scene; Holding the stars in your hands,” The Japan Times, Saturday, September 25, 1999, p.15

Kobizen o koete--Mori Tôgaku, Asahi Shinbunsha, 1999

“Mori Tôgaku: A New Century of Ceramics. The Creation of a New Modernity and Tradition,” Honoho Geijutsu, vol. 63 (Abe Shuppan, 2000), pp. 12- 19

“Tôgeika no kama: Mori Tôgaku [Master’s Kiln].” Tôjirô 23 (Futabasha, 2000): pp. 25-27

Exhibition catalogue, Contemporary Clay: Japanese ceramics for the new century, (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2005): pp.74-75

Wege zur Japanischen Keramik: Tradition in der Gegenwart, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst zu Berlin, 2005

Christine Shimizu, Tôji: Avant-Garde et Tradition de la Cèramique Japonaise, Editions de la rèunion des musèes nationaux, Paris, 2006

Nihon Tôgei-ten (Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition 2009), Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbun, 2009: pp. 52