The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight Into BeautyThis book challenged the conventional ideas of art and beauty. What is the value of things made by an anonymous craftsman working in a set tradition and producing the same objects continuously for a lifetime? What is the value of handwork? Why should even a roughly lacquered Japanese farmer's rice bowl be beautiful? The late Sōetsu Yanagi was the first to fully explore the traditional Japanese appreciation for "objects born, not made." Mr. Yanagi sees folk art as a manifestation of the essential world from which art, philosophy, and religion arise and in which barriers between them disappear-- an ego-free world of pure innocence and constant rebirth. The implications of the author's ideas are both far-reaching and practical. What is the process of making forms and patterns-- of artistic creation? What attitudes help an artist's work touch an unending source of life? |
Contents
In Gratitude | 8 |
Introduction Bernard Leach | 87 |
Towards a Standard of Beauty | 101 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight Into Beauty Muneyoshi Yanagi,Bernard Leach Limited preview - 1989 |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic Amitabha artist-craftsman bamboo beauty and ugliness beauty of craft become Bernard Leach bingata brush Buddha Buddhahood Buddhist century colour conscious craftsmanship craftsmen creative culture dance deformation dualistic early Tea masters everyday example existence expression eyes fact freedom getemono hand handcrafts handwork Height Honami Kōetsu human idea Ido bowls individual artist industrial intellect intuition irregular islands Japan Japan Folkcraft Museum Japanese kasuri kiln Kizaemon living look machine maker means meibutsu mind modern nature objects Okinawa one's painting pattern perception pieces pots pottery Prefecture produced Raku realm Saga Prefecture Sen no Rikyū sense shibui shibusa Shirakaba Shōji Hamada Shuri Sōetsu Yanagi spirit stoneware Sung ware Takeno Jōō Tea ceremony Tea masters Tea utensils Tea-bowls technique textiles things tiles tion Tokyo tradition true beauty truth Tsuboya West word Yi dynasty Zen monks