{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1778154"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1778154/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC8440/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC8440/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PC8440","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1778154","accessionNumber":"E.907-2024","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Bernard Leach (1887-1979) is one of the most important potters of the 20th century. Through his prodigious output of pots over more than 60 years, his extensive writings and frequent lecture tours, his regular exhibitions and many students, his influence has been far-reaching and profound. Throughout his life Leach positioned himself as an intermediary between East and West, a position shaped by a nostalgic and romantic view of East Asia, and mediated by his circle of friends in the Japanese mingei (folkcraft) movement, most notably Yanagi Sōetsu. \r\n\r\nHaving travelled to Japan in 1909 with the idea of teaching etching, Leach became enthralled by the art of ceramics, and in 1920 returned to England with Hamada Shōji to establish the Leach Pottery in St Ives. Together they built the first East Asian-style climbing kiln in Europe, and set about producing reduced stoneware and slip-decorated earthenware. Leach made a number of return visits to Japan, most notably his extended tours in 1934-5 and 1953-4, the latter documented in his book, A Potter in Japan (1960).\r\n\nSignificant in Leach’s later tour was a three-week period spent at the remote village of Onta (styled by Leach as Onda) on the southern island of Kyushu in April 1954, where he admired the ‘unspoilt’ nature of the local pottery. Leach worked actively there, making a number of pots (including C.68-2024) with the help of local potters, as well as various drawings recording the potters and kilns. This drawing along with another in the collection (E.906-2024) record places and scenes which Leach witnessed during his visit to Onta. They record the craft process: the preparation of clay, the process of coil-building and the process of firing.","physicalDescription":"A drawing showing a Japanese potter coil building a pot, including notes recording the process, and with annotated diagrams of wedging clay.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Bernard Leach","id":"A1084"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paper","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen on paper","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Architectural drawings","id":"THES274432"},{"text":"Studio pottery","id":"THES48889"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2025PC8440"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"C","shelf":"120","box":"C"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],[{"text":"design","id":"AAT102051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Japan","id":"x29399"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1954","earliest":"1954-01-01","latest":"1954-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchase funded by Christopher M. Gorman-Evans","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"286","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"203","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This drawing along with another depicting the village kiln at Onta, Japan (E.906-2024) were created by Bernard Leach during his stay in Japan in 1952 to 1954. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Bernard Leach, drawing showing a Japanese potter coil building a pot, including notes recording the process, and with annotated diagrams of wedging clay, pen on paper, Onta, Japan, 1954","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Bernard Leach, <u>A Potter in Japan </u>(London, 1960)","id":"AUTH406293"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"potter","id":"AAT25414"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.907-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"907","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-18","recordCreationDate":"2024-04-15","availableToBook":false}}