RED, WHITE & BLUE (AND SOME GOLD)

An internet friend sent me this photo a short while back and thought I would share it along with a quote from Dr. Fred Baekeland that is always in the back of my mind; "Kondo Yuzo is one of the very few modern potters to bring something new to the otherwise sterile field of underglaze blue-and-whie porcelain."*. I must admit, it is not everyday you see such a majestic Kondo Yuzo masterwork, which this certainly is with underglaze blue and overglaze red enamel and gold making for such a rich and enticing surface and piece. I have admired Kondo's work all the way back to our first encounter in the LIVING NATIONAL TREASURES OF JAPAN exhibition (1983), coming face to face with his rich, bold and evocative sometsuke painted porcelain was a wonderful experience and we have enjoyed every chance encounter since that time. Though only a photo, this vivid image communicates its volume and power through the stark background decorated with red, white, blue and some gold creating a lush landscape that only Kondo could capture blending Momoyama ink painting, sometsuke decoration and modern expressionism all about his three dimensional canvas.
(*MODERN JAPANESE CERAMICS IN AMERICAN COLLECTIONS, pg. 112, entry #29)