Illustrated is a rather robust, exhibition
chawan by Kishimoto Kennin. I handled this chawan a while back and always find
it interesting when I can correlate an exhibition photo to the pot in hand to
get a sense of not only what the bowl looks like to my eye and through my
camera lens but also through the vision of a photographer in their studio
somewhere in Japan. I will start by saying that the photo I took of the page
out of the exhibtion catalogue is a bit washed out but at least from my
experience does not capture the richness, depth and power of this Iga chawan
which I have tried to portray in my photo. For those interested in technique,
using my camera set to automatic focus and with the tungsten filter set to on,
I used a 100watt tungsten bulb to photograph this piece and other than to crop
the photo, no photo manipulation was undertaken. The photo I ended up with
here is exceptionally close to what the chawan looks like in person and unlike
the catalogue picture, you can see the depth of the ash surface, the richness
of the clay and the perpetual wetness that the pot exudes. I have written about
Kishimoto Kennin in previous blog posts, I truly admire how he handles clay and
fires his pots from Iga to seiji and all the styles in between, he strive to
allow the clay to speak under any natural of added surface and creates pots
that add to the traditions in which he works. I was very happy with my
experience handling this chawan and being able to see it here and there but it
never ceases to amaze me how different a pot can look through two different
lens.
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