Published on the occasion of an exhibition organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 210-211) and index.

"In Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics scholars illuminate the overlooked zone of interaction between conceptions of art and craft by focusing on the work of ceramic artists who believed themselves centrally engaged with modernism, surrealism, and other issues of concern to an international art world. Bert Winther-Tamaki considers issues of identity that shaped Noguchi's "embrace" of the Japanese earth as a medium of modern sculpture and design. An essay by Niimi Ryu examines the broader discursive milieu of Japanese ceramics in the early postwar years. Louise Allison Cort focuses on postwar Japanese ceramic artists ranging from traditionalists such as Kitaoji Rosanjin and the "Living National Treasure" designates, to primitivists exemplified by Okamoto Taro and Tsuji Shindo, to avant-garde experimentalists led by the Sodeisha group. Bruce Altshuler's essay reviews the ways in which the American reception of Noguchi's ceramic work displayed particular attitudes toward art-making and national identity. Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics will appeal to scholars, contemporary sculpture enthusiasts, and all those interested in Japanese ceramics and sculpture."--Jacket.

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