Potter:  Kamei Masaru

Approximate size: W4.7″ by H2.7″ or 12.0 by 12.0 by 6.8cm

This is a tenmoku chawan by famed Nitten exhibition potter Masaru Kamei (1933-). Masaru Kamei is a potter working in the Seto style and was born in Aichi prefecture. His works were exhibited in Frankfurt & Bremen, Germany in 1992 & 1993.

After the end of the Pacific war the attribute Imperial was no longer trendy. Everything was reorganized and renamed. In 1946 the Imperial Art Academy became The Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, abbreviated as Nitten. The Nitten has developed into a large organization. Today the Nitten has five art faculties, Japanese Style Painting, Western Style Painting, Sculpture, Craft as Art and Calligraphy.

1967 Contemporary Crafts & Arts Exhibition, received the Contemporary Crafts Award 1972 The Foreign Minister’s Award at Japan Modern Art Crafts Exhibition
1973 The Chun-ichi International Ceramic Exhibition Grand Prize
1974 & 1976 Nitten Exhibition Special Award

Masaru Kamei won the Blue-ribbon award at the great Nitten Exhibition in 1974 and in 1976. This is the highest award for potters entering this famously career-making competition.

1992 Aichi Prefecture Arts and Culture Award, Culture Award, Frankfurt City, Germany
1993 Tradition and Avant-garde Crafts Exhibition in Japan Today, Bremen, Germany
1994 The Japan Modern Art Crafts Exhibition Prime Minister Prize
1996 Contemporary Crafts Japan’s New Arts and Crafts Exhibition
Received Aichi prefecture’s Education Award (Culture)

2000 The Japan Modern Art Crafts Exhibition Minister for Education Prize
Received Seto Province’s Public Merit Award
2012 The 44th Nitten Exhibition Minister of Education Prize
Received Minister of Science’s Commendation at the 44th Fine Arts Exhibition of Education, Culture & Sports

The chawan has no chips or cracks and is in excellent condition. Comes with the original quality paulownia wooden tomobako or box with kiln stamp and calligraphy on the inside & outside of the lid.

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In a nutshell, Bunten and Teiten were official, state-controlled, juried art exhibitions. Nitten replaced them after the war. The meaning of these official exhibition societies for the world of Japanese arts was pretty comparable to the French Salon in the second half of the nineteenth century. The conservative Salon was the institution most hated by the French impressionists – their works were regularly rejected by the jury. And without a representation by the Salon, an artist had hardly any chance to sell anything to private collectors.