Gallery St. Ives Tokyo Japan

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1 A London Scene Etching and Dry Point/Copper Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm Bernard Leach Etchings Gallery St. Ives Tokyo Japan

2 Bernard Leach Etchings It is a very rare opportunity indeed to be able to acquire a limited edition etching by the British artist and potter Bernard Leach. Leach is perhaps best known as one of the most influential British potter's of the 20th century, for cultivating a cultural exchange between East and West and his special friendship with Shoji Hamada. But as a young man Leach primarily trained as an artist. He was an accomplished draughtsman and highly skilled in the art of etching. Leach's early artistic works are less documented but in his book, The Etchings of Bernard Leach, Simon Olding, Director of Farnham Crafts Study Centre and a trustee of the Leach pottery, has researched the significance of Leach's early career as an etcher. It illustrates over eighty of Bernard Leach's etchings, many of which have never appeared before in print. This book tells the narrative of a young man's artistic journey and his efforts to find his way as an artist in Japan from 1909 to Olding comments Drawing and etching were Bernard Leach's calling cards: the means by which his name was first made in Japan and his artistry made visible. The significance of this early work cannot be underestimated. Simon Olding Following his heart, Leach rejected the role his father had planned out for him in banking and in 1908 he enrolled as a student in Fine Art at the Slade School of Art. He was particularly attracted by the art of drawing, refining his technical skills in perspective and draughtsmanship under the tutorage of Henry Tonks. It was at the London School of Art he learnt the process and technique of etching studying under the guidance of Frank Branwyn. He was greatly influenced by him and artists such as William Blake, Whistler, Ruskin and Augustus John. In his early career Leach produced a number of both urban and rural scenes from the industrial cityscapes, street life and skylines of London in the early 1900's, to depicting the docks and the warehouses on the River Thames. In contrast he enjoyed visiting the gentle Dorset countryside and surrounding area. Through the medium of etching he found a precision and discipline in the way he worked using minimal line and decoration. It was as an Artist and Printmaker that Leach first travelled to Japan in 1909 with the intention of teaching drawing and the techniques of etching. He had a

3 4 Coal Heavers, Earl's Court Road Steel Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm

4 printing press sent from England and set up a studio in a house in Tokyo. The Japanese writer, philosopher and founder of the Mingei movement, Soetsu Yanagi attended an art lecture given by Leach and they were subsequently to become great friends. In his introduction to The Potter's Book, published in 1940, Yanagi recalls Leach came to Japan at the age of twenty-one, full of dreams and wonder. Trained as an artist, he had planned to give lessons in art. Absorbing the cultural aesthetic values and traditions of Japan he was inspired by artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai in composition and their influence was also reflected in the sensitivity of line in his depiction of nature and the elements. His creative subject matter was inspired by his travels around the country. Drawing the rural surroundings, landscapes and simple farm buildings he saw and the workers in the field he encountered on these journeys. But as Leach became more involved with the art of making pots he was to put aside his etching to concentrate on his pottery. However, when he returned to England with Shoji Hamada to establish his workshop in St Ives, Cornwall in 1920 he brought back his etching plates from Japan. It is said they were stored in the attic and forgotten for many years. Leach continued to draw throughout his long life, remarking that, to me, painting and drawing are as important as pottery. A number of these carefully selected etchings are being shown for the first time at Gallery St Ives with kind permission of the New Craftsman Gallery in St Ives, Cornwall. Produced by Janet Leach and Mary Redgrave in the 1980's from the original plates and titled the Leach-Redgrave edition a series of images were printed in a limited number of twenty-five. These metal plates are now in the museum collection at the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham. These fine examples of Leach's significant etching skills stand as a record for his time as a student both reflected in the London scenes and in contrast the English countryside. They also trace a journey in time, of a young and curious artist as his career unfolded and his love for Japan. Sarah Frangleton / Independent Curator

5 5 The Gothic Spirit 1908 Etching and Aquatint/Steel Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm

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7 10 Chelsea Embankment, Nocturne Aquatint/Steel Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm

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9 15 Ruins in Landscape Etching/Steel Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm 18 Buildings Etching/Steel Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm

10 35 The Angler or Fishing 1911 Etching/Steel Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm 37 Boats and tree, Japan Etching/Steel Plate Leach-Redgrave Edition cm

11 58 Negishi 1914 Soft Ground Etching Leach-Redgrave Edition cm NEW CRAFTSMAN GALLERY, ST IVES

12 46 The Lagoon (The Lagoon of Teganuma, Abiko) 1918 Etching (pencil sketch for this work is in the Mashiko Reference Museum) Leach-Redgrave Edition cm New Craftsman Gallery, St Ives, UK