Product Description

7167

Tanimoto Kei

ink on paper

seal: Kei, framed and glazed

H. 30¾” x W. 44½” (78cm x 112.5cm)

Tanimoto Kei (b. 1948)

Kei was born the eldest son to the ceramist Kousei (Mitsuo) Tanimoto (dates unknown) who was famous for his study of wood-fired ancient Iga ceramics.

As is traditional in Japan Kei served an apprenticeship under a different master than his father and went to the studio of Sakuzo Hineno (1907-1984) in Mino before returning to the family kiln and making pottery alongside his father at the Iga Mitagama studio.

Between 1973 and 1975 Kei travelled abroad and studied art in Europe. During this time he spent some extended periods in Paris where he studied copper plate printmaking at the Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17 and also founded the Ceramic Atelier ‘Akira’. In 1977 he returned to Japan and continued making ceramics with his father in Iga before inheriting the studio later in the same year.

Exhibitions:

1974 Ibiza Printing Exhibition, Spain and the Genova Printing Exhibition, Italy.

1975 Miami Printing Biennale, USA

1976 Atelier 17 Exhibition in USA and Bangkok. Presented Pottery Solo Exhibition in Paris.

1977 Festival Du Japon Exhibition, Paris.

1978 Solo exhibition at Mitsukoshi department store gallery, Tokyo

1991 Iga Shinraku Exhibition, the Kosetsu Museum of Art, Kobe

1994 Iga Pottery Association Exhibition, the Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu City

2003 Craftsmen’s Taisho Showa Heisei Exhibition, the Mie Cultural Centre, Tsu City

2004 Gendai Chatou-ten (Modern Pottery Cups and Teapots Exhibition), the Sun Gallery Sumie, Nagoya

2007 Hana to Utsuwa no Deai-ten (Bowls and Flowers Encounter Exhibition), the Kakiden Gallery, Tokyo