Chapter: Painting with Iron

Born in 1904, Murata Gen grew up in a humble family in Ishikawa prefecture. He studied classical painting at the Kansai Bijutsu Gakuin (Kansai Art Academy) in 1922 for several years before the onset of war forced him to abandon his dreams of being a painter. Because of the war, and because of his impoverished background, he sold all his paintings from his academy days early on to survive, with little to no documentation. Thus, all of these early works from his 20s are lost to the public eye. The story of his painterly career seemed to end then and there.

Murata Gen was a dedicated and masterful Mingei potter. His first encounter with pottery was late, relative to many potters in his life, when he visited a folk craft exhibition showcasing Mashiko wares in 1934 Tokyo. It was then that his path took an unlikely turn, and his dreams of art were given a second chance. Inspired by the modest beauty of Mashiko pottery, he decided to relocate permanently to Mashiko in 1924, where studied for many years under Hamada Shoji and affiliated closely with the Mingei school, raising some controversy while doing so.

Murata was a man of small stature. He worked quietly for his years as a potter, creating vessels that held great power and sensitivity for marrying form with surface. Murata's resourcefulness showed throughout his career. He often carried his work from the throwing workshop to a neighboring kiln to use. As a result, many of his pots collapsed before firing. Not many works of his survive today due to this precarious process. The works that do are full of heart and soul. One ponders where he sought inspiration with his humble means, often rejected by the Mingei, and how he rendered soulful surfaces in his creations.

Murata’s training in classical painting foregrounds his mastery over surface-scape. His functional wares employ unique glaze decoration to express scenic vistas. Like Hamada Shoji, Murata Gen chose to use only clay and glazes indigenous to Mashiko; he was a mindful Mingei practitioner that built his clay works with intention. However, he decisively departs from Hamada Shoji in choosing to use the exterior of his jars and bowls as, as it were, “canvases'' to express his deeply-held artistic intentions.

Look closely at his painted surfaces. The texture of Mashiko clay were a medium for him to express sensitive and soulful iron brushwork. Depth and composition are accented by variegated glaze tones. One may see Murata's humble and touching painterly expressions.