Tokyo University of the Arts

”Introduction to Japanese Arts and Culture, Transcendent Contemporary Art Skills of the Meiji Era”

The history of Japan’s modern export porcelain had its start when potters of the Seto region, who had been making blue-and-white underglaze porcelain for domestic use at the end of the Edo Era, lost the patronage of their domain after the Meiji Restoration and thus turned their attention to exports, resulting in a focus on wares decorated with overglaze enamels.
This video discusses the modern porcelain that Japan exported to western countries following the Meiji Restoration, and introduces some notable pieces.
In the early days of the 20th century, Japanese porcelain products entered their golden age by prevailing over the stiff price competition posed by European porcelains while accurately capturing the tastes of the American people and overcoming the high import duties imposed on foreign products in the U.S. market.
This was especially true around 1914 – 15, when European products were found to be in short supply due to the outbreak of World War I, Japanese porcelain products became extremely popular in the U.S. market.
However, in American consumer society of the early 20th century, simple overglaze coloring had become a primary focus of interest, as opposed to raised coloring, which required a higher degree of time and skill, as evidenced by the elaborate decorative surface techniques seen on coralene, which was made by attaching beads to the porcelain body. Japanese tableware, which could be mass-produced as brightly-colored Art Deco lusterware, soon became all the rage in the United States.
The history of these works is introduced in Part 1, Ceramics and Modernity which focuses on works of traditional Japanese designs using blue-and-white porcelain (sometsuke) and overglaze enamel paintings depicting such motifs as flowers, birds and beautiful women. In Part 2, Gradual Changes in Designs, we will be discussing how the Japanese were influenced by and imitated many traditional European designs, which were frequently sought after by the American populace of the time. Finally, in Part 3, Transition to Art Deco, we will be discussing the period from the advent of American Art Deco, which Americans popularized as their country's design, to the present day, and discuss these histories in three separate videos.