Shiro Tsujimura b. 1947

Shiro Tsujimura (1947) began his artistic career studying oil painting; however, he became disillusioned during this process and eventually abandoned the idea. Inspired by a classic Ido teabowl from the Folk Museum in Japan, Tsujimura embarked on the journey of ceramic arts. He is known widely known as a master of pottery as his ceramic works reflect a level of sophistication and return to nature in the various clay bodies and glazes he used. His dedication to the ceramic arts bleeds into his lifestyle. In 1967, Shiro and his wife moved to Mima, Nara, where he currently resides, and built a home, a teahouse, and seven kilns over the years.

1947  Born May 22 in Gossei, Nara Prefecture, Japan. 

1965  Leaves for Tokyo to prepare for entrance examination to art college but becomes disillusioned with the mechanical process and abandons the idea. Upon a visit to the Japan Folkcraft Museum, is intensively inspired by a classic Ido Tea Bowl and decides to take up pottery.

1966 -68  Resides at Sanshoji, a Zen temple in Nara.

1968  Returns to his father's farm. Builds a potting wheel from the wheel of an old card, and starts practicing at night.

1969  Marries Mieko Sugiyama.

1970  Buys a plot of land deep in the hills above the city of Nara in Mima, and builds his house, a workshop, a tea house, and seven kilns. Starts a long period of study of ceramics. Kilns rebuilt and / or refined numerous times. 

1975 First son, Yui, is born.

1976 Second son, Kai, is born.

1977 First exhibition at his home. Catalogue is self - made with snapshots of pieces pasted in a short handmade booklet and distributed to friends. 

1978 First public exhibition in Osaka, which is the start of a long career. 

1981  After a visit to Kassai City in Hyogo Prefecture, the arhat theme begins to appear in his ceramics and his paintings.

1982  Toyozo Arakawa (1894 - 1985), a Living National Treasure in ceramics, sees Tsujimura's pieces and asks to purchase a vase.

1993 Builds a kiln in West Devon, U.K. and makes pottery for London exhibitions 

1999  Honored with a solo exhibition at the Kyoto Chado Shiryokan, only the second contemporary potter after Kyoto veteran Shin Fujihira.

2003  Gives talk about his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. 

Selected Exhibitions:

1977 First exhibition at Home

1978  Misukoshi, Osaka

1980  Mitsukoshi, Osaka

1981  Yamaha Gallery Kichijoji, Tokyo Mitsukoshi, Osaka
1983 Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store, Tokyo

1984 MOA Museum, Atami Maruei Department Store, Nagoya

1990 Tachikichi Main Store, Tokyo
1993 Japan Art, Frankfurt, Germany
1994 Gallery Besson, London, Franfurt Japan Art, Germany

1995 Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store, Tokyo

1996  Kuze Gallery, Gifu, Yu Gallery Palace Hotel, Tokyo Maruei, Nagoya Maruei, Toyohashi Hankyu Umeda Main Store, Osaka

1999  Chado Research Center Gallery, Kyoto

2000  Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store, Tokyo (paintings) Hankyu Umeda Main Store, Kyoto, Tenmaya, Okayama Maruei, Nagoya Maruei, Toyohashi
2003 Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York 2006 Yu Gallery, Palace Hotel, Tokyo

2004 Maruei, Toyohashi

2005  Tachikichi Main Store, Kyoto

2006 Yu Gallery, Palace Hotel, Tokyo, Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York Axel Vervoordt, De Cluyse, Antwerp
2007 Honshun-in Daitoku-ji Temple, Kyoto, Artempo, Where Time Becomes Art, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice

2008 H shun - in Daitoku - ji Temple Kyoto Tachikichi, Kyoto

2009 Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York Galerie Yoshii, Paris Ryogotei Tokyo

2010 Joblonka Gallery, Berlin, Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store, Tokyo Tachikichi Main Store, Kyoto

2011 Ippodo Gallery, Tokyo, Kochi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York Infinitum, Plazzo Fortuny, Venice

2012 Galerie Capazza, Nancy, France, Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York Lacoste Gallery, Concord Massachusets, Mingei Arts Gallery, Paris, Imura Art Gallery, Kyoto

2013  Tapie, Los guardo dell'artista, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Leslie Kehoe Galleries, Victoria Australia, Axel Vervoordt Kanaal, Antwerp

2015 PROPORTIO, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice Italy (group exhibition)

Selected Public Collections:

Asian Art Musuem of San Franscisco, California
Ackland Art Museum and the University of North Carolina
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Axel and May Vervoordt Foundation, Antwerp
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
The British Museum, London, United Kingdom
Chado Research Center Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 辻 

Frankfurt Craft Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C 村 

Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria Australia

ISE Cultural Foundation, Japan

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Miho Museum, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN

Museum fur Asiatische Kunst, Berlin
Museum of East Asian Arts, Berlin, Germany
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
Stockholm Museum of Art, Sweden 塊 

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut