Ceramics often make up the form of a vessel, hence, are associated with objects for everyday use. However, when it comes to the field of contemporary ceramic artworks, these can be observed as a three-dimensional form, even when the work is reminiscent of a vessel. With the existence of materials, techniques, and traditions surrounding ceramics, contemporary ceramic artworks may have been the result of artists, each exploring their self-expression. KIKUCHI Tomo (1923-2016), the founder of Kikuchi Kanjitsu Memorial Tomo Museum, began collecting the late 20th century Japanese contemporary ceramic artworks, as she was fascinated by these enigmatic philosophies and sense of beauties. In 1983, she organized “Japanese Ceramics Today – Masterworks from the Kikuchi Collection” which was on view at the Thomas M. Evans Gallery of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., U.S., and in that same year, traveled to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, U.K. This exhibition shed light on ceramic works by Japanese artists who were, at that time, in their forties and fifties. The fact that an exhibition introducing Japanese culture was accepted in the midst of the Japan-U.S. trade conflicts led Tomo to realize the significance of cultural exchange and became further committed to encouraging the exploration of Japanese contemporary ceramics.

The exhibition, “Encouragement of Japanese Contemporary Ceramics Kikuchi Collection” includes various Japanese contemporary ceramic artworks from around the 1970s to the 1980s, some of which were included in the “Japanese Ceramics Today” Exhibition in 1983.