Lucie Rie Exhibition: Encountering Ceramic Art of Refined Form at the Teien Art Museum
The Encounter Between the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum and Lucie Rie
Even if you don't know what kind of ceramic artist Lucie Rie was, looking at the ceramic works on the exhibition flyers (it seems three types were created this time), you can imagine that they must look stunning at the Teien Art Museum.
The venue, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, was built in 1933 as the private residence of the Asaka Imperial family. It is an elegant building with interiors featuring elaborate Art Deco designs.
Rie's works, with their deep blue colors and elegant lines, are truly fitting for such a residence.
I visited because I was certain that this retrospective, the first in Japan in about 10 years, would be worth seeing.
Displayed as a main piece in the Great Hall
Work featured in the exhibition visuals
About Lucie Rie
Lucie Rie (1902–1995) was a leading British ceramic artist of the 20th century.
Born into a wealthy Jewish family in Vienna, she studied ceramics at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts and established her position as a ceramic artist. However, following the German annexation of Austria in 1938, she fled to the UK out of fear of persecution.
In the UK, she had to start her career as a ceramic artist from scratch. As the war intensified, creative activities became increasingly difficult, and to make a living, she began making clothing buttons from the same material as her vessels. The business was successful, and Hans Coper, who had also fled to the UK from Germany fearing Nazi persecution, joined her as an assistant. After the war, Rie and Coper began working together on the production of vessels.
Rie's work is characterized by a graceful style—thin, delicate, and rich in color—created using a potter's wheel. Her works were increasingly exhibited at international exhibitions, gaining high acclaim not only in the UK but also internationally.
In Japan, her works have been introduced in exhibitions several times since 1964, and she became widely known in Japan, particularly through an exhibition planned and supervised by Issey Miyake in 1984.
Large-scale exhibitions were also held in 2010 and 2015, making this the first retrospective in nearly 10 years.
Exhibition Structure
This exhibition, which allows visitors to appreciate Lucie Rie's works in Japan, including the Iuchi Collection deposited at the National Crafts Museum (Kanazawa), is organized almost chronologically, showing how she elevated her unique art while encountering other ceramic artists throughout her creative history.
Chapter 1: Born in Vienna
The exhibition features works by artists associated with Vienna—such as Josef Hoffmann, who led the Wiener Werkstätte—alongside Rie's early and later works.
The 1926 "Bowl" already strongly displays her commitment to thin bodies, forms, and glazes.
The turquoise line at the bottom of the bowl is effective
Chapter 2: Encounters in London
Rie fled to the UK to escape Nazi persecution, but her achievements in Vienna were almost unknown in the UK, and creative activities during the war became even more difficult.
When she began living in London, she met Bernard Leach, a leading British ceramic artist at the time.
Leach had exchanges with Soetsu Yanagi, who led the Mingei (folk craft) movement in Japan, and his ceramics were characterized by simple, thick bodies that emphasized the practicality born from daily life.
Contrasting with Rie's delicate works, Leach initially criticized her work harshly. Rie temporarily adopted Leach's style, but eventually returned to her original style and pursued her own path.
Dish with Willow and Waterfowl Design in Slip Glaze, 1924
Slip is clay of a different color than the body. It is used for casting, or as a decorative material when drawing patterns.
During the war, when ceramic creation was difficult, she produced buttons for couture clothing
Right: "Lava Glazed Bowl", date unknown
Tiny holes—pinholes—appear on the surface.
These are easily caused by air trapped in the clay or introduced during the glazing process.
Rie utilizes these accidents not as flaws, but as decoration.
In this section of the exhibition at the New Gallery, the inventive designs of Hans Coper, Rie's creative partner, catch the eye.
"Vase", 1968
The rim is tapered inward.
"Coffee Set"
Chapter 3: Encounter with the Orient
In addition to Bernard Leach, works by Shoji Hamada and other potters from the Mingei movement with whom she interacted are on display. While there is an affinity between Leach, Hamada, and other artists, I felt it was difficult to find common ground with Rie.
"Large Bowl with Sgraffito Design", circa 1923
Chapter 4: Toward Her Own Style—Ceramic Artist Lucie Rie
An exhibition featuring only Rie's works from the 1970s onwards.
Years of research and discipline have come to fruition in these works.
Deep colors and thin, delicate lines. There is even a solemn atmosphere drifting from these graceful and delicate pieces.
A bronze glaze is applied to the rim using a brush over the glossy green.
The pursuit of various techniques adds further depth and movement to the works.
From the late 1970s, vibrant colors began to be used in her work.
Bronze glaze on the rim, turquoise glaze on the lower body.
Despite the use of multiple colors, it does not appear gaudy.
Blue lines on a white background.
A simple color scheme, yet the white has depth and the blue lines have a soft bleed. It is highly expressive.
Reflections on the Exhibition: What is the Essence of Rie?
When Rie went into exile, the idea that ceramics equaled art had not yet been established in the UK.
When it came to ceramics, white porcelain tableware like Wedgwood or Spode was considered high-class and superior. When Bernard Leach began his career in ceramics, pottery was viewed as cruder and inferior to refined industrial products, and he struggled with that perception.
"Octagonal Tea Set", 2004
A tea set from the "Jasperware" line by the iconic British fine china and bone china brand.
Wedgwood once commissioned Rie to create designs in 1963. Unfortunately, they never reached the production stage.
By writing books on ceramics, Leach's works and creative philosophy gained recognition. At that time, however, compared to high-end industrial products, the creative style of Leach and his peers was called "studio pottery" (ceramics produced by an artist in their own studio rather than in a factory), and it was considered somewhat peripheral within the world of ceramics.
"Large Dish with Octopus Design", 1925
Slip decoration on the octopus suckers and the outer rim
A solid, sturdy style with thick clay
Rie also proceeded with her work as a studio potter, but while Leach popularized ceramics as a craft, Rie perfected ceramics as an art form.
While the pottery Leach created was practical, everyday ware, Rie's works feel almost entirely impractical. They are thin, with narrow, tall bases that lack stability; if you actually put something in them, they would likely tip over. It is as if she placed value solely on aesthetic form, such as color, shape, and decoration.
It is no wonder that Leach initially criticized Rie harshly. Leach sought to find beauty within utility, whereas Rie's creations pursued beauty itself. Consequently, from Leach's perspective, Rie's ceramics must have appeared as nothing more than fragile works lacking utility (though in later years, Leach did come to recognize Rie's ceramics).
In the UK, ceramics originally developed as industrial products, and the artist's individuality gradually began to emerge through studio pottery.
Rie's challenge to color and her freedom of form, unconstrained by utility, revolutionized studio pottery and led to her work being regarded as fine art.
This exhibition made me realize that the reason one's eyes are drawn to Rie's work is the result of her pursuit of the possibilities of form.
Rie in a white shirt and trousers,
sitting on a white sofa and smiling gently, just as one would imagine from her work.
Perhaps there was some self-production involved?
[Exhibition Overview]
Title: Lucie Rie Exhibition - Elegant Vessels Connecting East and West
Period: July 4 (Sat) - September 13 (Sun), 2026
Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Minato-ku, Tokyo
For more details, please refer to the museum's website below.