Sans titre

Miyashita, Zenji 宮下善爾

Musée Cernuschi, 5ème niveau (Mezzanine), salle Sui, vitrine 5

Zenji Miyashita specialised in slab-built vases with structured forms, coated in multi-coloured overlays and fired at about 1,250°C. These engobes, of which he possessed some 100 colours, were applied with a spatula in thin layers, enabling him to create optical effects and compositions evoking landscapes. His sensitive, imaginative work places him in a current bordering on design and decorative art. As a talented colourist, he played on the light caught in the low reliefs of his engobes.
Zenji Miyashita was born in Kyōto into a famous family of potters in the city. After graduating from the Kyoto City University of Arts in 1966, he was appointed as a teacher there (1966-1985). In 1969, he worked on ceramics with Yaichi Kusube, “Living National National Treasure”; in 1991, he was awarded the Kusube Prize. In 1978, he was one of the founding members of the “Union For New Decorative Arts” (Nihon Shin Kôgeike renmei). The following year, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship, which enabled him to complete his training in New Zealand. A member of the I.A.C. (International Academy of Ceramics) from 1979, he took part in the Academy’s exhibitions. In Japan, he was selected for the Nitten exhibitions of 1964 and the Nihon Shin Kôgeiten (Exhibition of New Japanese Decorative Arts), in which he participated regularly. His work was shown in retrospectives of the Claywork movement in 1980 (Claywork yakimono kara zôgata e, 1980, Seibu, Ōtsu, Yūrakuchō), in 1985 (Claywork 85, Marronnier gallery, Kyōto) and in 2007 (Nihon no Claywork, Rome, Istituto Giapponese di Cultura). In France, he exhibited at the Musée Bertrand (Châteauroux), at the Espace Mitsukoshi (Paris) and at the Musée National de Céramique (Sèvres). His works have joined the collections of major museums, including Metropolitan Museum in New York, Brooklyn Museum, Everson Museum, Newark Museum, Philadelphia Museum, Indianapolis Museum, British Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, Auckland Museum.