Restraint and Spontaneity
November 22nd, 2011 at 08:00am Erica
Intimately connected with the subject of form in Japanese design is the aesthetic of Shibui. Yanagi Soetsu, the founder of the (mingei) folk-craft movement in Japan during the late 1920s, accurately summarized the meaning of Shibui as a term full of cultural and emotional resonance. “Etymologically, shibui means ‘astringent’, and is used to describe profound, unassuming and quiet feeling. … this simple adjective is the final criterion for the highest form of beauty.” (Folk Crafts of Japan, Yanagi Soetsu)
Shibui often manifests itself in works that display a skillful blend of restraint and spontaneity, revealing beautiful imperfections alongside a discipline of form and technique. One example is this ceramic vessel by artist Yasuhisa Kohyama.
Yasuhisa Kohyama (b.1936) Kaze, 2000, Stoneware
Kohyama’s stoneware piece proudly displays its rugged, irregular features. In Japan, such objects would be displayed prominently in the home, to indicate the owner’s appreciation of age and wisdom over artificial material pleasures. By choosing to (re)create such aesthetics in his art, Kohyama is perhaps championing hand-made, singular works of art that seek to capture the essence of more historic examples over more popular mass-produced work. See more contemporary Japanese design at our website for ‘Beauty in All Things,’ opening this November.
Entry Filed under: beauty in all things
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