Miwa Ryosaku (b. 1940) was born into the prestigious Miwa pottery family. The twelfth member of his family to hold the title “Kyusetsu 休雪,” the artist closely observed his father...
Miwa Ryosaku (b. 1940) was born into the prestigious Miwa pottery family. The twelfth member of his family to hold the title “Kyusetsu 休雪,” the artist closely observed his father and uncle creating Hagi pottery from a young age, quickly becoming familiar with the style’s distinctive materials and techniques. He is also known as Miwa Kyusetsu XII, but to express his individuality as an artist and sculptor while maintaining his potter heritage, he assumed the name Miwa Ryosaku and published several artworks under this name to delineate between the professional identities of artist, sculptor, and potter.
While Miwa uses the characteristic white tones of traditional Hagi glaze, which has been in use for twelve generations, he departs from tradition in both form and function. The artist renders spontaneous personal feelings in clay, exposing human passion and emotion not unlike the masters of Western modernity. Miwa studied Goya, Van Gogh, and Soutine as a student in Tokyo and admired the powerful expressionism of Modernist painting.